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Many thanks to Lord Taverne for his masterly exposition of the perils of fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism begins by constructing a clear demarcation between its right-thinking self and "the Other", to which it attaches a catchy label "eco-fundamentalism". It proceeds by throwing over the fence into the enclosure anything it wishes to denigrate. It picks out only the most extreme and bizarre examples, preferably ones discredited elsewhere ("Frankenfoods", MMR) - and suggests these are typical. It refuses to acknowledge any bodies of empirical evidence or reasoned argument that do not support its case. And it patronises and insults the intelligence of anyone who disagrees with its views, deriding them as dupes or charlatans.

Linda Hadfield
Greengauge Consultancy
Bedford