Gosh STU - So personal... 'Naive and Stupid?', 'Narrow-Minded'? Such strong words, perhaps I hit a nerve somewhere.
If you read my post AGAIN... You will see that I said "What is the point of wasting a year in an MSc IF YOU HAVE THE BACKGROUND AND KNOW-HOW to do a PhD". I did not say doing an MSc is wasted altogether. IF you are going to do a PhD which bears relation to what you did in your undergrad, and if it is not a requirement to do an MSc, THEN you would be WASTING time doing an MSc.
Of course I realise that some PhDs require an MSc and some doctoral candidates want a PhD in something different from their basic background. It is just common-sense!
No doubt you will comeback with some clever oneliner again, but I think I might just ignore it since it might just be the hormones. What you gonna do? Hit me?