Our pilgrimage had ignited the fire of faith in Zukka. He pulled a modest wooden cross from beneath his shirt, and kissed it. "I am good Georgian Christian, God will protect me," he said. "Maybe he will even protect you."

The PD accused him of using the tax rebate as an excuse, the true reason for triggering elections being his imminent expulsion from parliament as a criminal after his conviction for tax fraud.

So how come, my constituents wonder, you can't get to see a GP on a Saturday? Why, if you phone for an appointment, does it take ages to get through to a switch board that seems reluctant to take your call? And if your local surgery can't see you, how come there's not an automatic online system to refer you to one that can?

Of course I regret that a convicted, unrepentant terrorist should have been put into government here in the UK, particularly without the need to win a majority in an election. As to idmurray's question, what is the Presidential election in the Republic of Ireland to do with me? I do wish he would read what I wrote. "Of course it is not for me to tell Irish voters who should be their president, but there are implications for all of us."

What drives them? "Most of these individuals are brainwashed into believing that their concept of jihad is basically their earthly dimension of believing in God," Soufan says. "So, there is that ideological drive, religious drive that they have."