Gerry, your question has given me much to think about and I am afraid I cannot give you a straight answer. Let me just say that if I saw M in my premie years as someone to look up to and to admire, in my post premie years I do not see him as an incarnation of Inspector Clouseau (of Peter Sellers fame) or Hitler.

My point is not to 'defend' M per se, but to defend 'balance'. As it happens I am not doing a very good job of it at the moment, but I hope you get my drift.

Billy