Shouldn't you all be working? I've got a couple of mails from Iain and a sackful of opinions on this whole thing which I won't have a chance of replying to before the millennium bug brings Sinister down anyway, so thanks to everyone for taking time to let me know. For Sinister archivists who care about these things, Iain tells me that was a bit hacked off with the list and B&S-y fan things, wasn't getting much out of the list anymore "so I thought bugger it" and sent it. He always expected to be kicked off. He was happy for me to pass this on. I have to say of all the private mails I've received since I asked, every single one seems to be in agreement with what happened. I know a small minority of people have expressed surprise on the list, but would that make it therefore very churlish of me to try and draw a line under it now? I therefore (gasp) declare the matter closed and hope that brings a collective sigh of relief rather than a constitutional crisis and midnight arrest. I'm also fully aware that this episode goes down as one of the few times we've become more like some other lists and disappeared up our own backsides, so a personal opinion: we probably don't need a slew of "what the heck was all the fuss about?" mails and murmurings about everyone being too precious. Sometimes you just have to go through things if you can't go around them, although I know that applying that to the backside metaphor isn't pleasant. If you'll pardon the expression I tried to nip all this in the bud and failed. Trying to again now please help :) Can we just say that the Church of Sinister is like the Church of England, a broad church, but without the laughable costumes? The evangelical wing of P!O!P!sters who declare "pop is politics, politics is P!O!P!" and are big fans of Lene Zavaroni; the high church anglican fucking hard boys who get pissed at the altar on communion wine and kick the choirboys up the arse and hold their heads down in the font; the methodist twee kids who hide in the vestry, whispering to anyone who passes how they missed a bus yesterday and it made them cry, and try to get the vicar's autograph in their Hello Kitty notepad; and the agnostics and atheists who sit in the pews incredibly quietly, listen to the music with glazed eyes and a little enchantment but run like hell after the service is over in case the bloody vicar comes to talk to them. And I'm not a sectarian and you're all equally welcome. There, I've insulted everyone. You may not be the same as your neighbour in the pew but it doesn't mean they're faking. Oh hell, Nick and Ailsa said it better than me. Maybe now we can get back to the important issues of high debate. What does everyone think of B&S hairstyles? That was a joke, by the way. I'm off for a lie down. Honey +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+