Thoughts on Lockerbie

If a member of my family or someone I knew and love had been killed in the Lockerbie terrorist attack, goodness knows how I would have reacted to the decision of the Scottish government to release Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, close to death from prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds. No-one can possibly put themselves in the shoes of someone whose life has been turned upside down by the loss of a dear one.

But am I alone in finding the knee-jerk reaction of many others, not similarly afflicted, hard to fathom? As far as I can make out, this man was convicted "on the basis of thin circumstantial evidence and the testimony of a paid witness". I have also seen this evidence described, non tendentiously, as "flimsy"  and have read that there is a large body of opinion in Britain, including the families of some of the victims, that believes Mr Megrahi to be innocent. I know you can always find people ready to support the most outlandish positions, but I am pretty sure that I am right in thinking that many British people accept that he is probably innocent.

Forgive me, but the antics of Kadaffhi are at most a side issue. I stand corrected on the facts of the case, but from where I stand I think the Scots acted bravely and correctly - and with compassion.

This is what Garrison Keillor has to say about London and by extension, Britain:

"Justice is what makes a great city like London bustle and thrive, a polyglot metropolis full of minorities and escapees from authoritarian lands — it isn’t the excellent Underground [I think he got that bit wrong!] or the plays of Shakespeare so much as it is the expectation of justice. If you come here, this society will go to some length to do the right thing by you. You will not be snatched up and thrown in a hole and forgotten. If you’re sick, you’ll be cared for. Right is right"