OVER at The Atlantic, a mini-row took place that began with this newspaper. A recap, for those interested, and then a comment:

1) We wrote that some economists like Paul Krugman are engaging in "crude Keynesianism".

2) Mr Krugman thoughtfully replied that "I'm Gonna Haul Out The Next Guy Who Calls Me 'Crude' And Punch Him In The Kisser".

3) Michael Kinsley at The Atlantic obligingly titled a post "Krugman is Crude". No word on the date and venue of their fistfight.

4) In that same post, Mr Kinsley disagreed with his Atlantic colleague, Jim Fallows, that journalists should write as though they might one day face the people they write about. Mr Kinsley's joking advice? Go ahead and write with tongues of fire, and just sneak off if you run into the subject of your criticism.

Mr Kinsley's advice brings up a real dilemma, though. He simply says "write the truth." That's a journalist's job. No disagreement here. But can we call it "the truth" to say Mr X is a blowhard, Mr Y is a dupe or Mr Z is a fool? These things are opinions, not facts. If you write true facts about someone, and then comment on those facts alone, you should have far less fear of running into him at a party than if you say he is an idiot or a crook. Our style book puts it thus:

Do not be hectoring or arrogant. Those who disagree with you are not necessarily stupid or insane. Nobody needs to be described as silly: let your analysis show that he is. When you express opinions, do not simply make assertions. The aim is not just to tell readers what you think, but to persuade them; if you use arguments, reasoning and evidence, you may succeed.

This is not always easy to observe. We sometimes do describe people directly, and not all those descriptions are friendly. But when dealing with ideas, it's best to engage the ideas, not the person. For the record, we never called Mr Krugman crude. We said his argument was crude Keynesianism, and tried to show why we thought so. (And then we came down on the side he agrees with anyway.) He responded by touting his credentials and then promising to punch the next person to use a word he doesn't like. The form and style of his reply was either very subtly funny—though I didn't laugh—or it was... dare I say it...?

Nah. Have a nice day, Mr Krugman.