Incidentally: [news.bbc.co.uk]

Tony Blair has defended proposals to allow UK terror suspects to be placed under house arrest by ministers without their cases going to court.

The prime minister said the measures were needed to fight global terror.

“…to fight global terror”? Could someone please remind me: how much internment was authorised in the 70’s and 80’s in Northern Ireland? How many house arrests?

That issue was considerably closer to home than “global”, and I would love to see some comparative figures.