"Prince of Liars", Please Drop in and Have a Chat With Our Members

.

Is the world not a surprising place? Just a few weeks ago one Dave Welsh announces he's done with talking to preservationists and wants to see them in court. Then he slags off Dr Gill, compares me to Torqumada, calls me a liar and a rabid nobody (among other things). Then on a separate occasion he labels me "Prince of the liars" and fantasizes about blowing my head off with a duelling pistol, then wonders whether I would like to have a nice cosy chat.

Should Mr. Barford wish to advance his controversial opinions in a public forum in which rational discussion is still possible, the Unidroit-L list is available.

You know, I really do not see my opinions about the trade in illicit artefacts and ethical collecting at all "controversial", and I am assuming that many people looking in here will be of the same opinion. It seems to me that my blog is a perfectly adequate public forum, not closed away and "members only" like some porn ring and antiquities forums. Equally it is not in anyone's face, nobody who hates the idea of ethical collecting has to read a word of this.

Frankly, having been there, done it got the scars to prove it and already deposited a goodly number of well-considered words in the archives of mr Welsh's anti-preservationist "Unidroit-L" discussion group, I am not sure that I would describe it as a place "in which rational discussion is [at all] possible".

Let us see the list members discussing a few things by themselves first, and once we seem some rational points being made there, I'll join in if I feel I have something to add to any constructive dialogue about ethical collecting which the list members may start. As we know there are reputed to be many "Phd's (sic), university professors and museum curators" over on the Yahoo Ancient Artifacts list, it should not be much of a problem to bring them over to Unidroit-L for some reasonable discussion with the collectors and dealers there, should it? The more reasonable people over there the better for the flow of constructive discussion I would say. I cannot for the life of me work out why I am the only one invited in a message cross-posted on the AA forum.

Vignette: Dalziel woodblock illustration - the spider and the fly.

.