On a seperate subject am I right in thinking you’re an economist by trade?

Yeah right Jon, people are falling over themselves to buy it ….not …

Its great that you work so tirelessly to boost the profile of Pluto authors and help people to put across dissenting viewpoints.

Without a doubt you have helped to raise Ben White’s (for example) international profile. I hear that in events in Canada people were reading out your review and then buying the book to see if what you wrote was true.

I would rather swallow razor blades than work for Pluto

How very constructive, Gordon.

Given that we’re talking about racism and not, say, The X Factor you are talking 100% rubbish. There are some subjects about which a range of views is entirely acceptable (regardless of how correct they might be), say, the size of the welfare state, or the extent of regulation in the City. However some views are so abhorrent that they poison the well for the whole organisation. Foaming-mouthed anti-Semitism as pushed by Tonge and the Christisons is just that. If a member of either the LibDems or Amnesty were to imply there might be something to the research which says blacks are genetically less intelligent than whites they’d be toast then history within 2 hours. However, pure undiluted anti-Semitism (which, make no mistake, talk of Jewish cabals, evil Zionists etc. most certainly is) goes by with ne’er a slap on the wrist (and in AI’s case, actively promoted). Without rebuttal or censure, outbursts of bigotry are implicitly approved by the organisation.

Should the LD and AI be disbanded? If they don’t throw out their bigots, then yes, absolutely, the sooner the better and no-one except a few white middle-class students at some third rate universities is going to miss them.