Chris,
All views are obviously welcome. Many seek to bait but most seek to educate in their own way. You're right about polarisation - group think etc.
The 2010 SDSR sought to procure F-35C not B, which had been the choice, on balance, since the late 1990s. It is right that JSF's design has been heavily influenced by the STOVL requirement but remember that the USMC also lobbyed strongly for this trait. Perhaps their view is as stymied as others who never took to the concept or believe it to be outdated. I personally have found no end of situations where STOVL has come into its own on the tactical battlefield.
As for F-35 being a lemon, just check out the well-trodden thread on these pages. Suffice it to say that those involved know and rave about its capabilities even before it has hit the Block 3F standard. Most appreciate such capabilities cannot be revealed. Those that don't, or wish they did, continue to doubt it. I've seen not an ounce of hard evidence but a lot of propaganda in the press.
Back to the thread - Sharkey's utterances are actually factually incorrect and polarised. End of.