Auntie Clicky

That'll piss off the Yanks.

That mass murdering scumbag doesn't deserve compassion.
What's he served. About a month for every death at most?

Well, I think he does. Afterall, isn't that one of the things that differentiates us from terrorists?

it could have something to do with this …



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Did any one else hear the press conference & later interview on PM this evening with Mc Askill, the minister responsible. He almost seemed to enjoy giving the speach and to revill in it. He was quizzed on PM and basically avoided all the questions. I was so angry I nearly crashed my car.

Yep, it's definitely pissed off the Americans. Good.

Personally, I'm not sure he did it, so good luck to the guy.

I'm not really interested as to whether he did it or not. The man's dying and we should let him leave him to go home and die in peace. It's that simple. There's enough hate in the world, without making terminally ill people die alone in prison, because of it.

Bias alert. I am NOT an SNP fan. I consider myself a Scot more than anything else having lived here for over three quarters of my life, since I was 12.

I caught the long excerpt of the end of his announcement on 'Today' on Radio 4 yesterday evening and it struck me as a very measured, balanced, thoughtful speech and judgment that if you have not heard is actually very important to hear to understand his decision. I was between ambivalent to 'let him rot' before but hearing that made me clear it was the right decision for the right reasons.

That the Americans were pissed off came as no surprise. They come at things from a different angle and that's fine and their right. But I do find some of their reaction rather over the top and I very much doubt it came having heard the ministers announcement and thought about what he was saying. They are also plainly not aware enough that Scots law has always been distinct from English/UK law which was the reason Megahi was tried by Scottish judges, if in a court in Holland and not 'UK' judges, even though devolution had not happened then. Also that in the end this is a decision made by a politician but not a political decision being bound by the law and one of the things that was clear in the excerpt of the speech was that was exactly how the minister handled it. And absolutely rightly so.

Richard.

Indeed, though I'd appreciate it if you didn't refer to English law as "UK" law as English law only applies in England and Wales. We have an identity too!

<over simplification>
It's the "show mercy" bit of Scottish law that I believe has swayed his (correct me if I'm wrong) and I think that's wholly the right way to look at it.
</over simplification>

I think the guy was a "patsy".

Doubt we will ever know the real truth behind this.

I still think the Iranians had something to do with it as revenge for the Americans shooting down one of their passenger jets a few years earlier.