Dear Mary: How can I stop my friends spreading coronavirus conspiracy theories?

Q. Several of my friends and family members have moved on from dark thoughts concerning 9/11, the Kennedy assassination and other major events, and now seem convinced that coronavirus is another conspiracy, this time by the Chinese against the western powers. I say that’s unlikely, as it started with them infecting their own people. I would really like them to stop peddling such fake news, but how can I get them to do that without spoiling my good relationships with them?
—P.B., Tadworth, Surrey

A. Humour them by first listening sympathetically, then sighing resignedly as you reflect that it’s such a shame that these interesting ideas are always put out there by a stigmatised sub-sect, because it means our leading thinkers just dismiss them out of hand rather than giving them a proper airing. When they gasp ‘What do you mean, a stigmatised sub-sect?’, reply, ‘Because they are always put out there in the first place by people who want to believe in conspiracy theories as the only conceivable explanation for their own low status in life.