“Change is hard, apathy is easy and tradition is … (a) narcotic …”

Russell Brand, a recovering drug addict, said this when reflecting on the recent death of the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from a suspected drug overdose. He was being critical of governments., other than Switzerland and Portugal, which criminalise addicts and so keep the supply chain in the hands of real criminals. This hastens their almost inevitable deaths.

It struck me that what he was saying applied to more than substance abuse. From a scientific point of view I doubt tradition is a narcotic (I’m not qualified to have an opinion) but I think I know what he means. Tradition is safe and comforting for many of us, much like alcohol, heroin and other drugs are to their users.

Maybe the tradition of our adversarial system is a drug too? It repels many users – public and professionals alike – yet they are drawn to courts like addict for one last fix. Except it never is the last fix . It’s a revolving door for many of those parents who use it to “resolve” parenting matters. Many lawyers still flock to our courts despite the appropriateness of mediation and collaboration for so many of their clients’ cases.

Maybe Russell Brand is on to something.