Opinions and facts.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)

SIR: It has been said that while people are entitled to their own opinions, they are not entitled to their own facts. I therefore make no further comment on the "opinion" aspects of David Kemp's letter (March 2008), on which your readers can judge for themselves. However, the difference between us on fact, involving also the National Archives, must be resolved.

Dr Kemp says his accusation that I had misquoted him was based on "the actual text of the paper I prepared for the National Archives", and that "the printed text has always contained within it the words 'Stone told me'", rather than the words "I was told" to which I had referred in my article "The Dismal Beginning to the Fraser Years" (July-August 2007). He now acknowledges that "in my oral presentation on the day, I used the words 'I was told'", but says that "all Stone had to do ... was to read the prepared text of my remarks".