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‘No man is an island’ said John Donne in the seventeenth century (1572-1631) – long after the Book of Gen 4:3-8 had asked ‘AM I my brother’s keeper?’

These are questions we have struggled with throughout time and we face them more brutally today than perhaps ever before. We can support the rebels in Libya – but not by putting troops on the ground – except, it seems, for Military Advisors. A handful of them are being landed in Libya to help the rebels. They are known as the Military Advisory Team – MAT for short. Let’s hope they do not become the DOOR MAT, trampled on by both sides in the dispute.

There is no doubt about our duty to interfere in other people’s lives when we see them doing harm to the innocent. There is equally no doubt about the right of each person to his or her independence – the gift we were all given when born and the only gift we can give over and over again to those we meet and care for.

Where do we draw the line between interference and allowing independence?

It is a question every police force in the world has to answer hourly. In today’s world we need urgent international answers to this question if we are not to stagger from one dispute to another. But we also need personal answers so that we are prepared for the neighbour’s spouse abuse or child mistreatment.

Libya is not some far off country with remote problems; it is your next door neighbour in a global world.