Hi Nigel,

"This is an impossible basis for interpersonal communication and is not my fault!"

Absotively agree. I too tend to lose patience very quickly with flat statements, and the Gladstone reference hits the right note ;-)

Please also note I wasn't directly or obliquely referencing any particular personal response to Cropredy, just the general angst evident on both extreme sides of the debate.

"In fact, it's my Yuletide message to the world...."

Ha!

I think that it would be enormously interesting to take Cropredy up on his claims of detecting 'dead straight' lines over great distances. Easily 'proved' without the use of blindfolds.

What say you Cropredy?

Rods and laser-survey at dawn?

Thusly:

1. Cropredy finds one of these 'dead-straight' lines and tracks it for a distance of, say, 1km. Inserts own markers at 100 metre intervals or so.

2. TMA'rs over plot his line by laser and measure any variance from dead-straight.

If he claims these lines to be dead straight, it should be easily proved or disproved in this way.