The Browser quotes the BBC’s economics editor Paul Mason saying, “If you ever wonder why serving politicians go grey so quickly, it is in part because they see the intelligence.”

This reminded me of a conversation I had five or six years ago with a former Bush White House official who had recently resigned and moved back to his home state. He mentioned that it was a huge relief to him and his wife to have left Washington in the post-9/11 era. He said something to the effect of, “If you saw the daily intelligence briefings, you would understand.”