Interestingly the Northern Ireland Executive has just been brought down by the very two things this thread is concerned with; consistency and banter!
Had NI civil servants adapted the framework of a renewable heat scheme already developed and proved in England, the people of NI would not have been left with a rip roaring debt of half a billion pounds! This debt is likely to affect public services for twenty years! The true cost of the scheme loss was over one billion but UK tax payers are footing that shortfall!
Had our politicians been less comfortable throwing brick bats and involving themselves in vitriolic banter, perhaps attitudes would have been more reasonable.
I have always noted that banter is a useful tool for those who cannot frame coherent arguement, it serves to deflect from scrutiny of their opinions, which, perhaps, might be less robust than one might expect. That is not to say that banter is unwelcome, it just has a place.