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OK, Paul, I hear what you are saying. It's a very open and obvious diss. I'm not sure what you are saying makes any difference to the argument that the canonical way here is not the way to go. I was explaining in the simplest way, I would not want, and I'm sure you would not want either, a live page like this - the home page, live and canonicalised. (It's a given that the canonical works like a 301, passing link juice to the preferred version.) So thanks but it makes no difference - delete & 301 every time. Google is heightening its distrust of canonicals - the new Seach Console tool reveals which pages are the preferred canonical and it's something of a surprise to SEOs! If you feel like playing top trumps again then why not PM me? - it's so much better and the uninitiated do not need to see it! Cheers Nigel