Responding to my discussion of the European arrest warrant, I received the following e-mail from a somewhat regular eurosceptic correspondent (reproduced in full, minus the writer's name):

"Your latest blog offering - European Arrest Warrant.

"You wrote:-

"'Without the European Union, fleeing to Rome might have been beneficial to Osman Hussain. But thankfully, we live in a world where there should be no hiding places for terrorists - especially not in our neighbouring European countries.'

"Mr Corbett. Are you being deliberately obtuse? Or is all this tosh merely wishful thinking?

"You know as well as I do that Osman Hussain won't be extradited from Italy for years.. if ever.

"So much for 'EU Co-operation'!!"

It's good to know that this blog is prompting discussion. My reply was as follows:

"Dear [name],

"Thank you for your e-mail.

"I think it is best to wait until due process has run its course before we judge whether Mr Hussain will be extradited. That is why I avoided speculating on that in my blog entry.

"In the meantime, I note that this seems to be the first time you have complained to me about a lack of EU co-operation. Surely you can't have it both ways?

"Either the European arrest warrant facilitates rapid extradition from one EU country to another, or it does not. If the scheme works, then eurosceptics complain that it infringes our civil liberties (as in the Bruges Group piece I linked from my blog). But if it doesn't work, then eurosceptics complain that European co-operation is not what it should be and we are powerless to extradite suspects quickly (as in your e-mail to me). These two complaints are mutually incompatible. Which is it to be?

"Best wishes, Richard"