With regards to my old Tim chum’s original missive, I wouldn’t say that involving a conspiracy automatically invalidates any particular theory. After all, conspiracies have indeed happened. I believe, for example, that the United States engineered the Spanish-American War by arranging to have one of her own battleships crippled in a Cuban harbour. Then there was Hitler and the unfortunate business with the Reichstag. But, as always, the best thing to do when examining any theory is to apply Occam’s Razor and see if it still stands up.