"It is just that devices like repetition and manipulated negations of facts in order to make a point and designed to elicit emotion is pathos style of argument. And as such, does not appeal to me as a method of getting to truth."

No, don't worry too much, it's just the way my brain works, Virginia Tam. That came out in minutes (I type very fast) and I liked the way the words looked as I was typing it, the 'maybe' bit found its way into my imagination and out it came. It was the 'maybe' word that started it off, nothing else, and then it was half down to how the 'picture' of the words looked, as much as what I was actually saying.

I think a little oddly at times, that's all, we're a dyslexic family and we're all a little weird in how we think. I think entirely in pictures, listen to music in pictures, hear and read poetry in pictures.

Blame 'Maybe'...he was the one who did it! :0)

And Joan, can we please get this sorted out once and for all.

I'm really sorry to disappoint you here, but I'm NOT racist. I know that you're kind of determined to prove to everyone that your hunch about me is right, but it ain't.

Yes, I have at times read the Daily Mail. I have also read The Times, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Guardian. So what?
The Daily Mail sometimes has some excellent articles in it, and it's contributed to by many famous people from time to time. It's also one of the most popular newspapers in this country, so that means we're either the most racist country in the world, or that maybe this campaign of hysteria in here is perhaps a little OTT. I've read some great articles in other papers too, and some crappy ones, same with The Mail.

When I delivered papers around Sidmouth, with my son, last year, I didn't paint a swastika on the doors of every house that had The Mail, nor did I paint a hammer and scythe on the doors of those who had The Guardian. I do NOT judge people on the papers they read and have never heard of such a thing until I fell into the folk world.

For your information, I have met Sir David English and Stuart Stephen, both of whom were strongly connected with The Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday. This is not because they were awarding me a prize for reading every single word ever published by their papers, but because they both came to visit the heart specialists for whom I worked in Harley Street.

Ask Stuart Stephen if he remembers Dr. Spurrell's secretary, and he'll tell you the story of when he tried to pull rank on me, and got short shrift...and he ended up laughing about it.

I don't judge people like you do. I'm sorry if that upsets you, but I don't. I don't judge papers like you do either. I know there are some good journalists and one hell of a lot of bad ones. I loathe The Sun and The Mirror because they're so damned dumbed down and crude. I don't like naked women in my paper (down boys!) :0) never have done, but I did once work with Denise, who lef the chemist shop we both worked in and became a model for those two papers, a Page Three one. She eventually went on to become Miss United Kingdom. A very pretty girl and to be honest, one who didn't need to take her clothes off to get somewhere, but she eventually packed it all in when she had children, as she didn't want her kids to see their mother across the papers like that.

I won't refuse to read something, just because there are people out there who tell me I mustn't. I make up my own mind about things.

The paper I like best, at the moment, is The Independent, and I like it because it's different. All the other papers so often have the same boring story on their front pages, but that paper nearly always has something different. It's a breath of fresh air, although no doubt I'll be told that reading The Independent proves I'm 'something else' entirely...

I'm not a racist, nor a facist. Neither was my father, who, along with one hell of a lot of other people in the UK used to read The Daily Mail all his life. He went to war though, to er...fight the facists and the racists, and to ensure that you were born with the freedom of speech to infer that his daughter is a racist.

Personally, I'd rather you used that freedom to be uplifting, kind and inspirational, but then....I'm my father's daughter....and you're not.

And now, back to common sense.

And also...to bed, as I'm about to turn into a pumpkin again.