I was doing some late shopping on Christmas eve on Oxford Street.

What I thought was really cool, was the relaxed attitude to dumping large piles of black rubbish bags on the street, when the police are so keen to investigate any sort of bomb-like bag or case left unnattended.

Now some of the bags were the transparent sort, but by far the majority of the bags were the plain opaque black type.

Hopefully this spells the end of the ludicrous, no bins rule on the streets and at railway stations.

Or maybe it just means that we don't have to worry on Xmas eve.

I've just seen plans for reshaping the statue of liberty.

The torch is replaced by a mobile phone, and the good lady is wearing a 'wire' which enables her to tap into various privatly bugged apartments.

The 'right to bear arms' is being replaced by the 'right to be bugged'

The concept of Freedom is being replaced by the 'freedom of information '

So God help you.

I nipped into the Old Bailey to see the trial of the two guys accused of murdering John Monkcton. I must admit, it all seems a little strange to me, but then I am not a lawyer, so I will not preach.

But the funny thing was the nonsense about security. The Old Bailey is our highest security court. Our most dangerous criminals are tried there. Quite often, armed police block the road as the White Vans (used to be Black Marias, but there's politcal correctness for you) deliver the prisoners.

No phones, no knives, no guns allowed in the courtroom.

Pretty sensible really.

But the airport-style metal detectors don't work. Well they do work for the average guy-on-the-street, but I managed to defeat them.

Much to the amazement of the security guards. One of them was a charming lady, named after a Greek Goddess (she can be my Goddess any time!). I didn't show her how, but I did repeatedly take large metal items through the screen.

As serendipity would have it, I then bumped into (well through a shop window) Derren Brown. Now normally he can read peoples' minds. But I coudn't convey the fact to him that I had a fantastic trick of deception that he could perform in front of the cameras, the police , and the media. What a pity! But if anyone knows him, I will gladly show him the trick...it might make our courts safer.

And I even bumped into Colin Chapman (Trafalgar Square Sculptor of Baby Jesus) as he was positioning his statue. Lovely guy. Not sure I could get the sculpture out of the square without anyone noticing though.

I must stop this shameless name dropping.

Ok, so who is responsible for the sad execution of Mr Menenzes?

The way I see it, is that Sir Ian Blair should carry at least part of the blame, for not announcing to the public that he had authorised a shoot-to-kill policy, and the use of lethal force.

If this had been known, when the police shout 'armed police, STOP', I think most members of the public will stop. Otherwise, a lot of people will probably decide to keep running. As Mr Menenzes did.

I am sure that had he known shoot-to-kill was in force then he would have stopped.

The worst he would have expected would have been being shot in the leg.

Certainly not having his brain stem disconnected. (That btw is what shoot-to-kill means : disconnect the brain from the body)

What about the behaviour of the officers on the street? Frankly, I think they just did their job, obeyed their commanders, and acted in exactly the way they should have done.

In retrospect it was a mistake. But before the event, they acted perfectly. You cannot use hindsight to judge people. I would hope that they would do the same again.

I would also hope that the public is properly educated when the police are operating a shoot-to-kill policy.

But did Sir Ian communicate this even to Tony Blair ?

If he did, then some blame must rest with Tony -- for not insisting on publicising the policy.

If he didn't, then Sir Ian should carry the whole can (of worms) home and eat it.

Knowing when you are wrong and coming clean is what we expect of our leaders. Not fumbled coverups, and awkward justifications that simply do not add up.

Our leaders should show us true leadership. Even if we don't agree with their policies, then demonstrating true leadership is the most important thing they can do.

Ideally do both.