"I want to stand up for our security services because they cannot stand up for themselves, " Mr Brown added.

BBC: Police to probe UK torture claims

The BBC understands he feels the time is right for him to end his Test career, at least at international level, feeling his body cannot stand up to the demands of five-day cricket.

BBC: Muttiah Muralitharan to retire from Test cricket

So, enough with the false cry of The Right that would have you believe that elected officials who receive union support on their way to office cannot stand up to those very unions once it becomes their job to do so.

FORBES: Who Says Democratic Government Officials Don't Stand Up To Public Employee Unions?

Yet this flawed, anachronistic set-up cannot be changed without the say-so of the very nations who would stand to lose most from any genuine reform.

ECONOMIST: The United Nations

But we cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy, and his forces step up their assaults on cities like Benghazi and Misurata, where innocent men and women face brutality and death at the hands of their own government.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Authorizes Limited Military Action in Libya | The White House