Leave Our Murderers Alone

I've never liked Jack Straw or Kenny MacAskill, and I don't generally defend the Scottish government. But when it comes to the current row about their non-attendance at the Americans' Senate inquiry, I'm right behind them.

Let's be clear about something, shall we ? We (or even the Scots) are not answerable to them. Personally I hated the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, and I suspected at the time it was in part a politically-motivated stunt designed to wind up the Americans, in which it was spectacularly successful. But what the Scots, or for that matter the English, do with their convicted murderers is up to people on this side of the Atlantic, not that side.

The Americans clearly have it in for BP at the moment, and you can sort of understand why. But Senate hearings are themselves opportunities for political showcasing in which the participants look to score points, win votes and generally serve their own ends. Exactly as Obama has been behaving throughout the oil spill, in fact. BP is the Americans' Public Enemy Number One, so any chance to put them in the dock is gleefully accepted.

I can't believe for one moment that the Scottish government would have released al-Megrahi to serve the interests of a plc, but if there's any investigating to be done, it's for the Scots (or possibly the British) to do, not the Americans. Anyone who gets summoned to some poxy Senate committee should cheerfully tell it to get lost.