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.

At the time this article was written I had. believed for some time that
columnists. in the Times and other journalists had been making references to
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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