"The analogy with IRA terrorists is a false one."

Yes, that may well be so Keith. I wasn't attempting a full analogy as such, merely an imagined alternative model.

As for your prior comments btw. I am in the UK. And as you have gathered, I am also female - I didn't challenge general assumptions from other posters that I was male on that "other" thread, as (it seemed to me) it didn't seem relevant to the points I was trying to make there.