Perhaps if naysayers had also travelled on the Brightline they might not write off one of the greatest and wisest entrepreneur's the UK has produced over the past 50 years.
At that time, it had become passingly acceptable to hope for the death of the president-elect, or to write off one's fellow citizens as sub-human.
Today, a bandaged and bruised police driver may have had a tough time explaining how he managed to write off one of the force's prized Lamborghinis when he rammed it so hard into a line of parked cars that one of the stationary vehicles ended up on the police car's roof.
Alarmed about a drop in business spending, the administration pushed through a generous "bonus depreciation" that let corporations immediately write off one-third of their investment in many kinds of equipment.
Her choice was partially cost driven; having a home office has allowed her to write off one-third of her home mortgage as a work expense.
After all, Clarksongate resulted not just in Clarkson getting sacked, but you quitting Top Gear, thereby nearly writing off one of BBC Worldwide's most lucrative global franchises.
Two years ago, property specialists were writing off One Hyde Park, arguing it was absurd to launch a billion-pound development for the super rich in the teeth of a global recession that had left even the mega-wealthy seeking cover.
Witness Cross's Trump routine, when he explains away the phenomenon, without discernible irony, by writing off one-third of Americans as "racist, xenophobic … awful people".
A technique that worked well on a problem may not perform well in another problem domain just as a technique that was written off on one problem may be promising with another.
Yes, her: The one you herald as part of your innermost circle (even though you don't actually speak but once or twice a year) but whose friendship you've frustratingly considered writing off; the one with whom your unique rapport has been tried and tested on some of life's harshest battlefields.
