What would Maggie have done?

Tensions are escalating between Iran and the West following the capture of 15 British sailors and marines.

Prime Minster Tony Blair has warned "I hope we manage to get them (Teheran) to realize they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase. But at the moment what we're trying to do is make sure that that diplomatic initiative works."

Officials in Blair's office and at the Foreign Office said the prime minister had been referring specifically to a tougher diplomatic posture, not to military or other more confrontational means

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who was visiting Turkey, telephoned her counterpart in Tehran on Tuesday and "spoke in very robust terms reiterating the U.K.'s concern about the continued detention of our personnel."

For goodness sakes, this is an act of war against the British. Just as Margaret Thatcher sent the armed forces halfway around the world to boot the Argies off a couple of cold windswept islands, so should Tony Blair be threatening the mad mullahs in Iran. 'Hand them back or face the might of the Britain and it's Allies'.