Are targeted drone killings lawful? The jury’s not yet in

So who are they, the urbane, sophisticated sharp-suited types with a licence to kill, drafted in to the front line in the battle against Islamic terror? They are – the government lawyers. The drone killing of Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin, far from being a spur-of-the-moment use of pre-emptive force to ward off an imminent attack, was actually weeks in the planning – with lawyers crawling all over it.

But there’s a paradox. If so much thought and work went into the killings, (and the latest US attack on “Jihadi John” – Mohammed Emwazi) how can it be justified as a self-defence response – “instant, overwhelming, and leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation”, according to the “Caroline” test legal pundits are talking about? Were the killings an act of “instant and overwhelming necessity” against an “imminent threat” with no other means of defending Britain from them?

Judge criticises Tower Hamlets over ‘Islamic State’ girls

A judge has criticised Tower Hamlets council for misleading the High Court in its attempts to stop several girls fleeing Britain to join Islamic State (Isis). In comments unreported by the press Mr Justice Hayden, in the Family Division, said the police had been wrong-footed by the council’s court proceedings and Tower Hamlets “consciously misrepresented the extent of the police awareness of this application”.

Hayden had made the five girls wards of court, which meant they would have to seek permission of the court before going abroad. Tower Hamlets then successfully applied for an order to confiscate their passports, “a very significant incursion into the individual’s freedom and personal autonomy”, according to Hayden. Council officers had claimed the police had agreed this was the way to proceed, but this was untrue.