Excellent Investigative Report by the Guardian on Peter Moore's Kidnapping

This is a superb report here . Peter Moore has now been released from captivity in Iraq/Iran? The Guardian are reporting that he was held in Iran which is entirely plausible given the Iranian government's long history of holding hostages. Sadly Peter's four security guards were murdered during their captivity. Anyway watch the Guardian report it is excellent and very plausible. We know the Iranian government likes to kidnap Britons, it may also have murdered them. I would like to wish Peter and all readers a happy New Year. My sincerest condolences for the families of his four colleagues from GardaWorld. Also I would like to express my admiration for the two Iraqi intelligence personnel mentioned in the film. Those guys ran incredible risks and are a credit to their emerging nation. Even if this tale overall is a sad indictment as to how Iran's thuggish theocracy can subvert an emerging democracy. Overall all the best to Peter Moore and may he have a speedy recovery.

Final Hours for Brit on Death Row in China

Time may be running out for Akmal Shaikh a Briton convicted of drug smuggling in China. Indeed by the time many of you read this he may already have been executed. I have mixed views on the death penalty. That may seem strange to some and I accept it is. But all my experiences have taught me that all governments kill to some extent or another. As such I can see perhaps cynically the argument for a just authority passing the death penalty after an individual has been tried by a jury of his peers. I mean every day western governments kill in Afghanistan and the UK government hypocritically supports that whilst being against capital punishment. That said I certainly support the calls for Shaikh to be granted clemency. I can never condone the use of capital punishment against drug smugglers. Had Shaikh received a fair trial and been convicted of murder perhaps I would think differently but I'm not decided on capital punishment per se. However I really do not want the Chinese government to kill this man.

Should our Bobbies get more pay?

Perhaps but they should not go on strike. In terms of pay our nurses and armed forces certainly deserve more. Currently the cops seem to possibly want the right to go on strike to force the government's hand. From the BBC:

Smith 'betrayed' police over pay

The home secretary was stony-faced during most of Jan Berry's speech
The home secretary has "betrayed the police service" by refusing to backdate a 2.5% pay rise, the chairman of the Police Federation has said.
Jan Berry told its annual conference that Jacqui Smith's decision, affecting Wales, England and Northern Ireland, had been "a monumental mistake".
But Ms Smith stood by her decision, adding it had been taken "only after a lot of thought".
On Tuesday, federation members voted to lobby for the right to strike.
Ms Berry praised Ms Smith for facing the Bournemouth conference, but also mocked her, picking on her admission that she smoked cannabis in her youth.
"I am sure you felt like reaching for a stab-proof vest and perhaps slipping into an old habit - lighting up, calming your nerves," she said.
What is it that Mr Balls has that you do not?
Jan BerryPolice Federation chairman
Nick Robinson's blog
"But as you've reassured us, you've moved on from those past indiscretions. Your recent crimes have been more for the serious fraud office than the drug squad."
Ms Berry also compared Ms Smith to Education Secretary Ed Balls who has recently defended a pay deal for teachers.
"Home Secretary, what is it that Mr Balls has but you do not?" she asked.
"Your decision not to honour the pay award was a breach of faith.
"It was a monumental mistake, and I don't say this lightly when I say you betrayed the police service."
Officer numbers
Ms Smith later addressed the 1,000 delegates herself.
"I know you strongly disagree with the decision," she said, "but it was one that I took only after a lot of thought, after considering the full facts of the case, the need to keep mortgages and the cost of living under control - and that includes your mortgages and your families' cost of living as well.
"And there was another crucial factor at play: affordability. And for that, read police officer numbers.".

Jan Berry, the chairman of the Police Federation, criticises the home secretary
Ms Smith said she "did not set out to alienate police officers", but added: "Setting out on the road to the right to strike will only lead to a dead end."
A Downing Street spokesman said Gordon Brown believed the home secretary's decision was "difficult" but "absolutely right".
Last year, she decided not to backdate to September a 2.5% pay rise for police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The police say this means their rise, only paid from December 2007, in reality amounts to 1.9%. Officers in Scotland, however, were awarded the backdated rise by the Scottish Government.
At present, officers are banned from striking and any such action is a criminal offence, but they are now planning to lobby to change that.
'Scandal'
Ms Berry, who will step down from her role as Police Federation chairman on Thursday after six years, called for an independent review of policing and vowed that the federation's members would abide by its recommendations.
She said such a review was vital to come up with "a clear vision for 21st Century policing".

Police officers have marched in protest over pay
"The inept management of modernisation is nothing short of a scandal," Ms Berry said.
She also said all 16,000 police community support officers in England and Wales should be given the training to convert them into full-fledged officers.
This, she said, would give the public what they want - "the bobby on the beat".
Ms Berry said the need to achieve targets and gather data had left the police "lost between statistics and reality".
But she said the other extreme - where officers were only called to deal with conflict and serious incident - would lead to the police becoming "a paramilitary force".
Pension reforms
The chairman was not entirely critical of the government. She told the conference she believed the police force was "more professional now than ever before".
"There are more of us now, we are better equipped and we have been catching more criminals," Ms Berry said.
"In fairness, you've listened to our concerns, but we have yet to feel those effects on the ground."
The home secretary used her speech at the conference to announce a number of changes to police remuneration, including increasing the lump sums paid to many officers.
She also said that in future, partners of officers killed in service should no longer lose their full police pension if they remarry.
The government would also look to cut officers' paperwork by reducing the amount of data it required them to collect by a third, she added.
The outcome of a judicial review of Ms Smith's decision is due within days and she told the conference she would honour the ruling whatever it was.
But Clive Chamberlain, from the Dorset Police Federation, told the BBC he was sceptical.
"The trouble is we don't trust her and we don't trust the government," he said.