""There was, after all, no compulsion on Jim to have contributed to that thread at all, was there? Yet he did so, in terms of at least qualified assent. I do not think either of you can deny that assertion.""

Absolutely not Mike.

You know that I have defended your right to answer questions just once, if you so choose, or not at all.

I can also sympathise with Jim, whose florid style tends to get peoples' backs up, which absolutely does not justify the way in which certain posters continually cast him in the mould of a bigot.

Simply put, he is passionate in his hatred of oppression in any form, and yes, his emotions colour much of what he says.

That doesn't mean that he isn't quite often corect in his opinions.

Nor does it make him (or me, for that matter) a bigot, racist, antisemite, or any other of the stock misnomers applied by the real bigots and racists.

Don T.