McKinnon saved; O’Dwyer still hanging
Well, of course I knew the extradition would be blocked long before the mid-day announcement by Theresa.
You have to understand how politics works: they’d rather crucify Jesus than take the unpopular choice. Nobody wants to do anything unpopular, so there was no overriding will to extradite. But Theresa would have to get the okay from her boss, David. And David would need to get the okay from his boss, Barack.
Why wait, I asked myself. So I used Facebook to get Barack’s secret mobile, and gave him a quick call. “Hell, dood,” Barack replied. “I got an election over here; and Gary’s got enough space ranger supporters for me to be concerned about my, er his health. I don’t want him over here just now. O’Dwyer’s different. I’ll be re-elected by then, so we’ll get him instead.”
But, you know, you’ve really got to admire the weasel acuity of these politicians. Gary has been saved not on any point of law, but on absolutely acceptable humanitarian health grounds. These health grounds do not apply to Richard, so his position is still hanging. But Theresa has very cleverly side-stepped any possible criticism. She gets the kudos of saving Gary.
But she knows that saving Richard won’t be so easy. So she hands off the responsibility. Now, if he gets extradited it is not her fault but the fault of the ‘forum bar’ she is setting up. But if he’s saved, then she gets the kudos for setting up that same forum bar.
All depending, of course, on what Barack tells David to tell Theresa to tell the judges.
