Julian Barnes, author of Flaubert's Parrot and most recently Arthur and George, this week appeared with other literary stars at a fundraising event in support of the <a href="Julian Barnes, author of Flaubert's Parrot and most recently Arthur and George, this week appeared with other literary stars at a fundraising event in support of the"Medical Foundation, which helps survivors of torture.
It was a timely event as only a few days earlier the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, had agreed with a conservative radio host that dunking terrorist suspects in water was a "no-brainer".
Mr Barnes came up with an intriguing historical nugget on what has become known as rendition: the sending of suspects to be interrogated offshore.
It turns out that King Charles II, who reigned from 1660 to 1685, was a pioneer of the practice. The merry monarch, as he was called, circumvented English laws preventing torture by sending prisoners to Scotland, where different rules prevailed and torture was permissible. As Tim Harris revealed in his book Restoration: Charles II and his Kingdoms, the merry monarch personally authorised the use of torture.
Fast-forward to today, and while the names of the countries change, the practice remains the same. Instead of England, we have the US. For Scotland, we have countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Syria (yes, part of the "axis of evil" but useful in other ways). Plus ça change ...
