Mr. David McWilliams:

We are all adults. It was difficult for my wife and other people around me, particularly my mother. Irish mammies read all that stuff. Really nasty things were written all the way through with regard to ability, motives, etc. Sometimes people write things they do not really mean. If one looks back at some of the comments, they were very personal and quite nasty. However, I am the sort of person who becomes emboldened by that kind of carry on. Maybe it is something deep in my psyche. There is the really nasty stuff and then everyone pretends that they are on one's side all the time. The put downs and all those quite slanderous articles were difficult to take but we are big boys and that is the cut and thrust of life.