Dear McGrath,

More like the duality of apples and pears

Uh....I believe that's "Apples and Oranges", an American phrase used to describe a non-comparison.

To the best of my knowledge, "apples and pears" (Cockney)means stairs.(there's that language thing again)

There's no reason on earth why someone should not hold a while bunch of ideas that are commonly seen as "liberal" and a whole set of other ideas which are commonly seen as "conservative

That's absolutely true and I won't argue the point (surprise surprise) for example, I find it ridiculous that a naturally growing plant should be illegal to possess.

You must, however, concede I did make this statement:

"Although there are different shades of liberalism, they can be scored by voting records."

Obviously the same is true of conservativism.

What's the opposite of "codswallop"?

mav out