Not all of the people I admire I agree with and not all of the people I agree with I admire. Most of the problems faced by us today are caused by politicans bottling it when they have tough decisions to make. The thing I loath and detest more than anything is cowardice and here's why.

I'm half Australian and half Irish. My dad came to Great Britain in 1942 as a volunteer pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force. He flew bombing missions with 40 Squadron in North Africa and Europe. On the eve of his 40th mission, which was the end of his tour of duty, his best friend and rear gunner, FO Andrew Murphy approached him, prior to briefing and said "Skip, I had a terrible dream last night. I dreamt we were bombing Ploesti (an Oil installation in Romania) and we got shot down and I died in agony in the flames. He then suggested that if the mission was Ploesti, maybe they could take a rain check as he had a terrible feeling. My dad replied that he wouldn't consider it as it was superstitious nonsense. When the mission was announced, Murphy turned white and said nothing. The target was Ploesti. Cut a long story short, rather than finish the tour and come home, they got shot down by an ME109 and Murphy died. My dad was a prisoner of war until he lead a mass breakout from the prison camp in Bucharest. The US air force repatriated them and he spent the rest of the war based in the UK as the Germans had taken to shooting escapees. When he told me the story I asked him if he could have ducked the mission. He said "Quite easily, but that would have been cowardly and I'd rather have died".

Now on my mums side, her dad fought in the great war. He was an Irishman who came to England because his family were members of the IRA. He wasn't into politics and detested violence, therefore he wanted a quieter life, as the family were getting constantly harrassed. On arrival in England he was enlisted into the Army and fought with distinction on the Western Front. He was gassed at one point and died young as a result. His cousin was the IRA martyr Kevin Barry who was hanged after being tortured under court-martial under the ‘Restoration of Order in Ireland Act,’ which had received Royal Assent on 9 August 1920 (his story is well described on Wikipedia). This was an act which allowed the Army to try Irish Nationalists under Court Martial, rather than in a court of law. In Kevin's case he was hanged, in November 1920, at age 18 1/2 because he wouldn't give the names of his accomplices. The case was a PR disaster for the British Government.

Now what has any of this got to do with Dr Vis. Well I was brought up in a household where you were expected to stand by your convictions and beliefs. We were brought up to value liberty and justice. We were brought up to detest repressive regimes, to a level where you would lay down your life if necessary. Look at the world today. In Guantanamo bay we have a regime very similar to ‘Restoration of Order in Ireland Act’. The irony is that in the 20's the Americans were the biggest critics of this piece of legislation. Look at the 42 days detention bill. Now I was on the no 30 bus behind the one that got blown up on 7/7 and I hate terrorists, but this is not the way to deal with them. Like all other repressive acts it will ultimately be the terrorists best friend because it will stir up resentment. Dr Vis knows all of this. He knew the bill was wrong but he bottled it. Whilst I agree with many of his beliefs, he is a man who when the chips are down will cut and run. He should do the honourable thing and resign. Maybe he should follow David Davis example and call a by election based on his stance. I somehow don't think there will be too many takers for his "I knew the bill was wrong but I bottled it stance" - Do you?