>>There are a zillion reasons to explain that little detail away. Don't forget that your ex-PM clearly announced that your government "are the single source of truth, dismiss anything else to the contrary"

Yes, yes, thank you. ;-)

It seems sad that the skepticism that used to be *the* defining feature of science is now called conspiracy theory, to be howled down with taunts and defamatory slurs. In science it's highly respectable to question the party line, and there's no reason why scientific principles cannot be explained to interested public rather than relying on the Authoritarian Fallacy. After all, the above quote may be from a NZer but it was another countryman, Ernest Rutherford who not only split the atom at a time when "everybody knew" it could not be done, he also observed that "an alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid." Amen. I have always rejected the Authoritarian fallacy and hope I always will.