But Some Rights Are More Certain and Inalienable Than Others

The defence of individual freedom and the rule of law, not hitherto major priorities of the Bullingdon Club and its chums, have been invoked in an open letter requesting the US President to facilitate the release of the last British resident in Guantánamo Bay. Along with Jeremy Corbyn and Russell Brand, signatories include the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, whose concern for the law has increased by leaps and bounds ever since Britain's Head Boy booted him out of office; and libertarian heavyweights of the order of David Davis, Tessa Jowell and the London Haystack; so it is difficult to see how the White House will be unable to resist.

Britain's Head Boy himself, of course, has done absolutely everything that falls more or less within the bounds of his personal convenience to secure Shaker Aamer's release, although it remains unclear what sanctions have been put in place against the United States for its gross and continuing breach of a British resident's rights. In fairness, there are extreme sensitivities at stake: notably those of the Republican heirs to the Bush chimpanzee, who have majorities in both of the US's legislative chambers and don't really want Obama to do anything except go back home to Kenya; and those of the MI6 spooks who were complicit in Aamer's kidnap and torture and whose itsy-bitsy feelings are, as always, a gravely important matter of our own national security.