Let's look at the possibilities here.
Can it really be that people who have reach Air Officer rank, and Civil Servants who have got to the point where they can retire with a quarter of a million pounds as a gratuity and get an £85,000 a year pension are stupid? I don't see that as likely.
So, if they are not stupid, they must know exactly what they are doing, and therefore have a good reason for it.
On the other hand, they might well be stupid, but if they can reach their current rank despite that, what happened to you lot? If the opposition were dickheads, why are you sitting at a keyboard instead of living the good life?
The system needs us to believe that the very best of the RAF are promoted to the top. So either that's a lie (and you were brighter but didn't get promoted because ....?) or it's true and they are so smart, that they have manipulated the system to get us to where we are today.
Is the Taxi Driver taking you the long way round, stupid for not knowing, or clever because his meter is running?