"Produce a quote that challenges anything I have said."
"'Dodgy' battalions in the Ypres Salient, wholesale abandonment of weapons and positions, pusillanimous leadership, a reluctant showing at the Marne, a navy that couldn't fire, politicians who knew nothing of war, it all makes for chastening reading." - will do for a start.
The review (by the right wing Spectator) objects to Hastings' book as undermining the official view of the war.
"Dominic Alexander has published no single book on WW1 and is not an academic at any university"
Real books by real historians from real universities - you are a ***** joke Keith.
"There are lots of people, especially on Mudcat, who have seen Lovely War and Blackadder and believe they know all about WW1."
Give one example where anybody has ever used either as historical fact - I seem to remember that used a song from Dad's Army to prove your point - but then again, you are a law unto yourself
"Dominic Alexander" is every bit as qualified to have a point of view on history as does Max Hastings, and you fought tooth and nail to have him (a right wing tabloid journalist who cut his teeth on a newspaper that openly declared itself in support of Hitler and fascism) accepted as a credible historian.
"Now then I wonder where and when Keith A ever said that "historians" are infallible"
Keith's whole argument is based on the claim that THE HISTORIAN HE HAS CHOSEN ARE INFALLIBLE AND ALL WHO DISAGREE, OR ARE DEAD, ARE LEFTIES AND THEREFORE WRONG - wake up cookie or you'll burn the pans again!!
He continues that argument now
" Strange really I thought that Jom always fancied himself as a champion of the working man, "
Nope - I am a working man, or was one until I retired and I have never suggested them to be either gullible or liars (and before you repeat it - it is not gullible to believe the mass of misinformation and emotional blackmail that was pumped out to gain support for this colonial family squabble - at the time, the media was the only source of information that the working man had.
When they broadcast the idea that Germany was about to invade and bayonet us and rape our women, as they were doing in "gallant little Belgium", who was to deny them tell us it was all a foregone conclusion that would all be over shortly,?
I have never called a soldier a liar to make a case as you pair consistently have.
"I don't know why you bother."
It's good fun to see these two squirm as these two worms are, and, using the same logic as did the courts martials and execution squads - as a warning for the future.
Don't think these two will ever be taken seriously again, with their real historians and flag-wagging crap - do you?
Have to admit that I can't suppress a smile whenever the word "historian" is mentioned - it's become a punchline.
Jim Carroll