MMI: "Why would Scotland want to appease Gadaffi; it has no foreign policy? Brown must have had Salmond's arm up behind his back while he did so."

Actually, that near-absence of any official "foreign policy" would have been one factor pushing Salmond in this direction: Scotland has very little authority over any form of foreign policy, and Scottish politicians in general and Salmond's party in particular has yearned from the outset to change that - hence sending Scottish delegates to any foreign event they have an excuse for, renaming itself the "Scottish Government" rather than "Scottish Executive" and other little gestures in that direction. They've been trying to gather influence like this for years, for example over work permits: one of my co-workers a few years ago had a Scotland-specific work permit (for working in Scotland after graduating from a Scottish university) - as it happens her desk was actually in London, but for legal purposes she was being employed in Scotland to qualify for that visa.

IAN: "We all have to respect the written law whether we like them or not. He was releaced from prison under Scotish Law and when in Scotland we all abide by their laws, and irispective of what country we originate. He was realeaced under their health of prisoners law whatever, and no country will break their own laws for one person."

I don't think any law would have been broken by denying his release: as I understand it, the law permits prisoners to be released if their health deteriorates to a certain point and some other criteria are met - that does not mean the law requires their release until the sentence has actually been served.