Fit For Only One Purpose.............

So, 'Dr' John Reid is in a spot of bother of the whole issue of criminal records of Britons convicted abroad. He had this coming all the way. Ever since declaring that the Home Office was not 'fit for purpose', many have been eager to seem him fall flat on his face. Quite frankly, it is about time this odious man was taken down a peg or two. And now, it emerges that the Home Office had turned down a request for extra funding to deal with the issue. According to The Guardian:

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said it had asked officials for money to allow it to clear up the 27,500 case files within three instead of 12 months but the request had been rejected.

It also emerged yesterday that Acpo sent a letter about the difficulties they were having with the exchange of criminal records across the EU to the police minister, Tony McNulty, in the same month. Acpo claimed last night that subsequent meetings on the problem had taken place with the Home Office in October and November.

So much for solving the problems of the Home Office. It looks as though Reid is actually as incompetent as he is malevolent. The only shame is that it is an issue like this that is seeing him get the rough treatment from the media. Meanwhile other, more serious scandals, have been largely ignored by large swathes of the press.

As regular readers are well aware, I have been following the plight of David Hicks in Guantanamo. Earlier last year, David won the right to receive UK citizenship. This was a great victory for the campaign to have him sent back to Australia and either charged or released. However, this citizenship was later revoked by none other than the man dubbed 'Vermin of the Year 2006'. According to a report in today's Guardian:

Mr Reid appears to have relied on alleged admissions made by Mr Hicks in an interview with MI6 in 2003 at Guantánamo Bay. He is alleged to have admitted meeting terrorists in Afghanistan, but his lawyers say these admissions were made after sustained torture and are unreliable.

'Dr' John Reid is personally responsible for the ongoing injustice that David Hicks, as well as other inmates at the notorious concentration camp, are suffering. On a day when people are gathering to protest against this despicable stain on Western civilisation, it is fitting that a man who has played his part in this gross injustice is exposed for the malevolent, incompetent criminal that he really is.