The day I'm leaving for Pakistan a round-robin e-mail pings into my inbox from an address I don't recognise, Wise Pakistan. The message reads: "It is important you watch this to see what's coming."
Ten men are lined up and each one is filmed talking inaudibly to camera. The first man is pinned to the ground by four others. His throat is slit like a goat at Eid and his head held aloft by his hair. The Urdu subtitle reads: "This is what happens to spies." It's a Taliban home video - to jaunty music - of serial beheadings. There are plenty of these doing the rounds nowadays.
I'm off to Pakistan for the children's half-term. They visit their father there every holiday. I lived