The article of which part. is reproduced below was penned by Bernard Levin
for the Features section of the Times on 21 September 1991. To. my mind, it
described the situation at the time and in particular a recent. meeting with
a friend, during which I for the first time admitted to someone. other than
my GP that I had. been subjected to a conspiracy of harassment over the
previous year. and a half.

my situation.. Nothing unusual about this you may think, plenty of people
have the. same sort of ideas and obviously the papers aren't writing about
them, so why should my beliefs not be as false as those. of others?

What makes this article so extraordinary. is that three or four days
immediately. preceding its publication, I had a meeting with a friend,
during the course of which we discussed. the media persecution, and in
particular that by Times columnists. It seemed. to me, reading the article
by Levin in Saturday’s. paper, that he was describing in some detail his
"artist’s impression". of that meeting. Most telling are the final
sentences, when. he writes, "The madman bursts into tears, and swears it is
all. true. And it is." Although I did not "burst into tears" (he seems to be
using. a bit of poetic licence and exaggerating) I did try hard to convince
my friend that it was all true; and. I am able to concur with Mr Levin,
because, of. course, it is.

At the beginning. of the piece Levin reveals a fear of being attacked by the
"irrational" subject of his story, saying "I have no reason to believe. that
he. is violent, but he should certainly be approached with caution". This
goes back. to the xenophobic propaganda of "defence" against a "threat"
which was seen at the very beginning. of the harassment. The impression of a
"madman running loose". who needs to be controlled through an agency which
assigns to itself the mantle of the "police" is also one which. had been
expressed. elsewhere.

In the final paragraph of this extract, his reference to Everyman’s. Library
as having "died a lingering and shameful death. a decade or so ago" shows
clearly. what sort of conclusion they wish to their campaign. They want a
permanent solution, and as they are. prevented from achieving that solution
directly, they waste significant resources on. methods which have been
repeatedly shown to be ineffective for such a. purpose.

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