Source: Rebecca Gowers. Plain Words (2014 ed). p. 186 Middle.
Here are two more examples of sentences that have to be unravelled before they yield any meaning :
Few would now contend that too many checks cannot be at least as harmful to democracy as too few.
Please help me grapple with this phrase; I'm practicing unravelling multiple negatives.
1. ... too many checks cannot be
at least as
harmful as too few.
Because at least as
= ≥, 1 becomes:
2. too many checks cannot be ≥ harmful as too few.
Because "not ≥" = ≤, 2 becomes:
3. too many checks can be ≤ harmful as too few.