Whether or not you believe in Blair, it can't be right to set up circumstances in which police can grab anyone off the street, lock him up for the equivalent of a six month jail sentence (90 days being the average served by a convict sentenced to six months), and go on a fishing expedition to see if he can be used to improve their clear-up rate.

Having failed to find any evidence, he can then be released without apology or compensation, having been blackened by the mere fact of his detention so that some people will believe he is guilty of some unspecified crime.

Oh, by the way, if this post gives the impression that I don't totally trust the police, I don't. Most especially I don't trust the intelligence on which they so often base their actions (remember WMDs).

Erosion of civil rights is a not a process to be undertaken lightly, and the last people who should be trusted with it are those who call for it in the first place.

Don T.