In her teens, my sister went through a brief period of political consciousness. Over dinner she would ask if we knew the tremendous amount of money being spent on battleships, foreign holidays or something else unnecessary. And did we know how little was being spent on education or medicine or some other superior cause?

We soon found out - and were invited to share her outrage. How disgraceful that the billions spent on weapons are not spent on hospitals. Surely all that money wasted on tourism should go to schools. My father just rolled his eyes and had another spoonful of caviar.

She has grown out of the habit but many have not. During the Olympics, I have been continually reminded of those long-gone dinner conversations. How outrageous that the Government plans to blow £10billion on the London Games when that money is so desperately needed for [insert worthy cause here]. Last week one columnist wanted it diverted to spelling lessons.

Let's agree that spelling is more important than Olympic sport. It doesn't follow that all the money spent on the Olympics should be spent on spelling. Because spelling is not the only thing more important than sport. So is biochemistry. It should get some of that £10 billion too. Farming should also get some; it, too, is more important than sport. And sculpture...

You can see where this is going. We will need to rate everything for importance and allocate the Olympic budget accordingly. And not only that budget. Just as spelling isn't the only important thing, so sport isn't the only unimportant thing on which money is spent. All spending on everything will have to be allocated in proportion to its importance.

Alas, that is impossible. No one has the knowledge required to assess everything's importance. To suppose that you do, and that the world would be improved if money were spent only according to your rating, shows hubris of biblical proportions.

Our political leaders decide how 42 per cent of our money should be spent, dividing it between battleships, schools, roads. But they cannot explain how they know which deserves more and which less.

Politicians don't spend our money wrongly because they fail to identify the correct “importance ranking”. There is no such thing, only how important things are to individuals. Any centralised spending plan is sure to be wrong for everyone on the receiving end.

When it comes to spending on behalf of other people, no one can get it right. So no one should try.

Jamie Whyte is the author of Bad Thoughts: A Guide to Clear Thinking

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