The latest proposal to lock people up without charge or trial is defended as a necessary measure to combat terrorism. Although terror suspects can already be held for seven times as long as other suspects, including other suspected murderers, the proposal is now to extend that to a remarkable 14 times as long.

Have we so quickly forgotten the lessons of internment in Northern Ireland? Introduced as part of a hardline package to combat that terrorist threat, it served only to alienate communities, leading people to mistrust authority when their support was crucial in isolating and identifying the real targets. Reintroducing internment today, by further extending detention without charge or trial, is likely to have a similar effect with Muslim communities.

How strange that Tony Blair has just left office citing recent progress in Northern Ireland, where exactly the opposite approach has been taken, as his greatest achievement in office.

John Watson, Programme Director, Scotland, Amnesty International, Rosebery House, 9 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh.



So, biometric ID is to be Gordon Brown's third line of defence against terrorism. We had better pray the first two lines hold. Great fanfare is made of the point that foreign visitors will need biometric ID - but only if visiting the UK for more than six months. I'm not convinced potential terrorists will have difficulty finding the five-and-a-half-month loophole in that system.

It is a shame Mr Brown did not expand on how he believes biometric ID will aid security. ID cards didn't prevent the Madrid bombings; they would not have made any difference to the London bombings; and it is hard to see how they could have stopped the Glasgow Airport attack.

The last time the Home Office tested its electronic fingerprinting technology, the system failed 20% of the time. In a year, that would equate to approximately 1.5 million false identifications at Glasgow Airport alone. But that doesn't matter. No-one expects taking fingerprints to improve security anyway. If the visitor has not visited Britain previously, there will be no records to compare prints against.

Geraint Bevan, NO2ID Scotland, 3e Grovepark Gardens, Glasgow.