Just Precautions

Two Libyans who were detained by the Gaddafi régime are taking legal action against the British government, against the empty suit which occupied the Foreign Office at the time, and against MI6's former head of Muslim relations. The Libyans were kidnapped, along with their wives and children, around the time of the Reverend Tony's declaration that Gaddafi was a fully-paid-up member of the Chums Against Terror club; which may cast a bit of a damper on his reverence's present self-exculpatory frolics. Libyan intelligence documents discovered after Gaddafi's overthrow indicate the involvement of MI6, although it is not as yet clear whether the Reverend Tony was able to intervene personally for the sake of freedom, market forces, Gaddafi and the CIA. "Her Majesty's government," said a spokesbeing, "will co-operate fully with the police investigations into allegations made by former Libyan detainees about UK involvement in their mistreatment by the Gaddafi régime." There is, you will note, nothing alleged about the mistreatment; the Gaddafi régime is not Israel, Bahrain or the UK Border Agency. Still, by sheer good fortune, the British government is now trying to introduce legislation to protect its own privacy in the courtroom and to ensure that people's grievances against it cannot be exacerbated through excessive use of evidence. No doubt the Deputy Conservatives, who once pretended some sort of interest in civil liberties, are duly satisfied.

Me at Poetry-24
Fiddlers Three