happy birthday Alan Johnston

It is 66 days since BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was abducted by a group of armed men in Gaza. Thursday is his birthday.*

Thus begins a moving article written by BBC World Editor Jon Williams, to wish his correspondent many happy - much happier - returns.

I don't think it needs reiterating how valuable Alan and people like him are to the rest of us - they do what we wouldn't dare to do, for the sake of knowledge, and now he is paying a pretty inhuman price. Can you imagine what the world would be like if all the foreign correspondents went home? Can you?

Read the article, and click HERE - or on the button down my sidebar - if you haven't already signed the petition for his release. The very least good that can come of it is that he will somehow hear of the petition, and will know that thousands of people are campaigning for his release. That might be a nice birthday present to have.


* On lighter note, and for future reference, when Alan gets home he might enjoy knowing that he was born on the anniversary of the day the saxophone was patented...