Does anyone seriously believe that John Smeaton's single-handed dismantling of the terrorist threat to the UK is unrelated to the release, three days later, of
Scottish BBC journalist Alan Johnston in Gaza? I think somebody worked out that they had a tiger by the tail: "In the name of Allah the Merciful, the Just, the Vaguely Inclined Towards Suicide Bombings, why did nobody tell us he was a Scot?"
I imagine that they filed sheepishly into his room, shuffled a bit, declared their surprise that Alan had somehow caught his wrist on the radiator-handcuff while constantly referring to him as "Mr MacJohnston Sir", muttered that their only demand had been that England hand back the 1966 world cup and immediately release all Scottish jakeys arrested for begging at Kings Cross, then gave him a big present and sent him on his way.