There's not as much contradiction in those two approaches as Dave suggests. Or rather, they've got to work in harness together and not pull against each other. We really do need some people who are fierce guardians of tradition, and some who are innovators. Creative tension. And most of us I think move back and forth between the two roles.

But I don't think Flute was up against a fierce guardian of tradition. I think he was up against what is sometimes rather unfairly termed an "anorak" or a "trainspotter" (unfair, that is, to people who wear anoraks and who go in for spotting trains, both activities against which I have no quarrel).