... and from my self-inflicted exposure to certain loonies, I discovered there was no dark side, it's all dark, that without edukashun, thought-control becomes so much easier.  Jowett and all that...

 Resorting to reasoned argument is the last refuge of a scoundrel!  You're right about the war, of course.

My take on the specific chapter is that Aaronovitch did debunk the whole spawn of HBHG (whether intended by BLL or not), but resorted to ne'er-do-wells for the debunking.  Everything was so much easier when the Church dictated thinking and loonies were kept where they belonged.

 To be fair, David Aaronovitch is one of the UK's leading political journalists (currently a regular writer for The Times) and a familiar figure on the UK media.  He wrote this book, he explains, because he was tired of having to refute every latest conspiracy theory and wanted to provide some evidence for a counter-attack.

Stella is better qualified than I to comment on how successfully he achieves this in respect of HBHG and all the nutters who treat the BLL hypothesis as gospel.  However, Aaronovitch is particularly good in his explanation of the tactics that conspiracists use to ward off attackers employing common sense and historical perspective and the damaged psychology of those who fall for every similar hypothesis.

There's a lot about Aaronovitch's political writings that I have disagreed with over the years (he supported the war in Iraq), but the book is selling well here on his reputation (it's had great reviews in the serious press) rather than any particular position he may have adopted.

 Great review, Stella.  I enjoyed the Aaronovitch book, but I agree that it would have been better if he'd checked with a real expert before writing the Holy Blood Holy Grail Holy Shit chapter.  Could it be that the Illuminati told him not to?

 Surely, what is important is what is in the plays themselves.  There may be doubts over the authorship, but isn't this all part of the new order which treats the artist as more important than the work or tries to see secret codes instead of doing the work to try to understand the plays?  There is immense richness in the great plays which makes the thought of any secret codes seem minor by comparison, doesn't it?  Does it really matter if Beethoven didn't write the nine symphonies?

 Hi Caecilius Out!

Hearty thanks for your unsolicited kindness.  You are the living disproof of the old adage that "fine words butter no parsnips"!  You have indeed buttered my parsnips (in the nicest possible way!) and I hope you continue to have good dinner conversations.

BTW I incorrectly attributed the screenplay of Knowing to the director and not, as it should have been, to Ryne Douglas Pearson.  Mr Pearson was kind enough to point out that mistake to me in fifty years' time!

W

 I loved the image.  Off to visit Bacchus...

 I hear through the grapevine that there's a book coming out shortly which also centers around the missing diary of Jesus.  Does anybody know anything about this?  

 I have two questions;

- is there something fishy about those letters in the article which are printed in italics, or are my old eyes deceiving me?

- does Bart use a sonic screwdriver to carry out his repairs?

Always trying to be of service

W.

I think I've guessed the name of the new era.  A reference perhaps to the first words spoken on the moon?

If Douglas A is to be believed, the dolphins can take care of themselves...