An interesting choice of words there, Jim - 'smear'. Harks back to another thread?

But I digress........

Jim, you appear to have a very short memory, and a serious problem with understanding both what's been said to you and also by you. I've been challenging you all the way through this exchange, and you have failed to respond to anything I've put before you, choosing instead to steadfastly continue your policy of denial, distortion and deflection.

You came into this thread making unverifiable one-sided accusations against the police - not a shred of verifiable evidence, just your own anecdotes which you expected everyone to swallow, together with thinly veiled hints that all of the records had been destroyed by the police - another unverifiable anecdote.

Now to the real nub of all of this - you conveniently omitted a salient, highly relevant fact about a very serious crime, and its outcome, in order to make it fit your anti-authority agenda.

I pointed that out and, quite reasonably, suggested that such an omission might cause readers to doubt the veracity of the rest of your attack on the police.

You then changed your story and tried to pretend you'd 'forgotten' these major details of the issue which I had corrected you over.

I explained that your comments right through this thread were unbalanced and asked you to give them some balance, and to try to see that there is another side.

Your response was to accuse me of calling you a liar, which I carefully explained was not my intention, and indeed I indicated that I have a fair degree of sympathy for your cause - the mis-treatment of Travellers - but that IMHO some balance in your postings, and a less selective memory, might make what you say carry more weight.

You have steadfastly refused to answer any of my points, instead choosing to try to turn everything back on me, and to demand that I 'disprove' the very accusations which you are completely unable to 'prove'.

That's the behaviour of a charlatan, Jim - an attempt at the kind of chicanery that the least-desirable parties in our political system are given to indulge in. Denial, distortion and deflection - where have we seen that recently? You should be ashamed of yourself, Jim.

The only person who has 'bottled out' here is you, Jim - bottled out of admitting you distorted the true facts of the Martin/Fearon/Barrass case, bottled out of any attempt at real discussion, bottled out of facing the truth about your own bias and bigotry against authority, bottled out of having the grace to try to understand and genuinely, constructively respond to what's being said to you, bottled out of giving real answers by trying to make yourself the victim and trying to make me 'disprove' anecdotal 'evidence' which you can't prove.

You were caught out right back at the start, and you hadn't the balls to admit what you were up to. And ever since, your only response to reason and attempts by me to have a reasonable, adult discussion has been to wriggle like a worm, and you're still wriggling.

It's schoolboy playground tactics Jim, and it's beneath contempt.

At least I can see the sunset, and I've got the balls to ride into it knowing that I'm a fair, honest and truthful man, Jim. I'll sleep with a clear conscience tonight, Jim. Will you?