Well, there is something we can agree on – I don't believe everything in main stream media either. But the things I disbelieve are mainly the things everyone else disbelieves too, such as how the welfare of ordinary people is important to David Cameron. Some things I might be dubious about, but I don't automatically disbelieve everything on principle as, it seems to me, a lot of conspiracy theorists do.

And we can agree that there are conspiracies around, and that governments and multinationals have secret plans and operations of one sort or another. Not all of these are malign. Actually, I'm quite glad that the UK government has an anti-terrorist department which has had some success, and I would be surprised if multinational drug companies are not working hard on producing drugs to combat or even cure some of the diseases which destroy the lives and happiness of so many people. Your clicky link didn't work for me so I can't comment on conspiracies or secret operations which have been proved to exist; I'll just say that it's naïve to expect governments to admit to projects of this kind just because a journalist asks them. For instance, for years the Pentagon denied that there was anything resembling stealth aircraft in the planning. Quite correctly, they lied in order to keep security.

I agree entirely with your comment on cognitive dissonance and the elephant in the room scenario, (though I don't think they are quite the same thing) but what is troubling about most conspiracy theorists is the absence of rational analysis, or the consideration of reasonable alternatives, or the application of known facts; and the tendency instead to prefer instead the most fanciful and extreme of interpretations. I suppose a lot of them are young teenagers who subscribe to the idea that if you believe anything with enough sincerity it becomes true, and who have no interest in finding out, for instance, how the physical world really works. And so they believe in vampires and shape-shifting monsters and everything Hollywood sci-fi can produce, and because everyone they know believes in the Illuminati then that just has to be true too. They are unaware that the existence of a Nazi Zionist organisation is as impossible as time-travel. But then, many conspiracy theorists are not ignorant teenagers, but apparently just as impressionable.

I can't answer your questions about Heath and Saville. I don't know, and unlike conspiracy theorists I won't present an opinion as a fact. It seems that Saville's activities were well known about in media circles, and presumably David Icke picked up a tip from an insider. Although Saville was never questioned, the weight of consistent allegations seems overwhelming. Presumably he decided that it wasn't a good idea to invite any sort of investigation and hoped Icke would be ignored. Heath might have decided to not sue for libel for a couple of reasons; we will never know for sure. But Icke hasn't "outed" Heath, in the sense that he has revealed him to be a paedophile. He has merely made an allegation. And if you accept that the allegation is true without considering any reasons why it might be completely wrong then you are doing precisely what you say you want to avoid – i.e. becoming the sort of person who accepts uncritically everything you are told. The last thing David Icke wants you to do is to ask reasonable questions about his many fantastic theories, or to keep a reasonably open mind. Remember, if you open your mind too much, your brain falls out.

So Patrish, can reveal just how much an Icke disciple you are? Do you believe humanity is enslaved by a race of shape-shifting telepathic lizards from "the constellation of Draco" (whatever that means.) That alternatively (or additionally) humanity is enslaved by a trans-national organisation of Nazi Zionists, the so-called Illuminati? That the moon is a giant artificial satellite built by the lizard-men to beam hypnotic radio waves at us? That vaccination against disease is an evil plan by the government to weaken the immune systems of young children? That the DVLA is a front for a sinister organisation which keeps hundreds of young children in disused Welsh coalmines for use in satanic rites? (I made one of those up by the way.)