She later survived 10 days of torture at the hands of SMERSH, the Soviet counterspy agency, until her captors were convinced that she had not deliberately deserted to the Nazis.

It was accepted on this side of the pond unquestioningly by Blair, and has been echoed ad nauseam by various government ministers and their unquestioning voicepieces almost ever since - just as al Qaeda was coined to describe an evil global organisation not unlike SMERSH or SPECTRE, headed by an evil Dr No/Blofeld-type figure otherwise known as

This was like one of those SMERSH meetings presided over by Number One while Blofeld, from his HQ, whispers into an invisible earpiece which colleague to