Coffee shop gossip should not override everyday facts

To the author of Tales from the Coffee Shop: my name is Leonidas Pantelides and I am the person you commented on in your piece July 31, 2011.

Coffee shop talk (or “kouventes tou kafene”) in Cypriot parlance stands for sub-standard discourse as concerning claims to truth value. And yes, it is also vacation time and there is a temptation to copy gossip from the local press.

But, please, before you speculate at the expense of your fellow citizens, check your facts and read up on your basic technology.

I don’t expect you to trust my integrity [ED regarding the possibility of tampering with documents to do with the Mari blast]. But I would have expected you to know computers nowadays keep a register of documents with dates as to when written and/or amended, and that it is the easiest thing for the police to know if a document has been tampered with. So please, while your vacation lasts, keep your Coffee shop chat to less consequential subjects.

 

Leonidas Pantelides,

Nicosia

 

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