I just finished a book by Dave Goulson titled A Sting in the Tale, and so was more than a little interested when two BBC broadcasters discussed a recent story indicating that bumblebees provided more value to the British economy than the royal family.

The BBC broadcasters lightly scoffed at that idea, noting that if someone wanted to they could play the comparison game in any number of ways and arrive at whatever conclusion they so desired. They didn’t actually come out and say it but...