The technology came from the security forces, but the IRA always shared its equipment and expertise with Farc guerrillas in Colombia, the Basque separatists, ETA and Palestinian groups. In turn, some of these groups used to be sponsored by Saddam Hussein and his Baath party.The former agent added: “The photographic flashgun unit was replaced with infra-red and then coded infra-red, but basically they were variations of the same device. Last year, Patricia Hewitt, then Trade and Industry Secretary, criticised headhunters for presenting employers with male-only shortlists for directorships. Studies have shown that a lack of female role models is second only to stereotyping in hindering women from achieving career success.The Institute of Directors, whose members are leading businessmen and women, said that the male-dominated culture of the corporate workplace was partly to blame for the fact female executives were not seen as role models.”Women in business are perceived as male substitutes and there are people who have been on boards who, to get on, have played the [male] game. Although none of the women surveyed had children, more than half said that the issue of combining career and motherhood was of major importance.Dr Val Singh, who was involved in carrying out the research, said that the latest generation of high achievers wanted a better work-life balance.”There is still inequality between men and women when it comes to careers – successful men have wives who can afford to stay at home and look after the children, but successful women still have to struggle to sort out the childcare,” said Ms Singh, from the Centre for Developing Women Business Leaders at Cranfield.Encouraging women to achieve at work is of huge concern for ministers. The founder of the Body Shop and entrepreneur, Anita Roddick, was one of the few businesswomen who was seen as a motivational figure.The Cranfield study also found that career women were ambitious but demonstrated a strong need to express their creative sides, which were often suppressed in busy jobs. They were also seen as courageus and successful businesswomen who took risks in their careers and managed to push back boundaries.
The findings, to be published in Women in Management Review, are based on interviews with women in business between the ages of 25 and 37 as well as on extensive research into how women operate in the workplace.Out of 50 positive role models singled out by the interviewees, 36 were women and only a handful were top businesswomen.Marilyn Monroe was included on the list of role models because she was viewed as a woman who had achieved success by working with men instead of against them.Other women they identified with were the news correspondent Kate Adie and the fictional TV heroine Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Cranfield School of Management, renowned for grooming leaders of industry, has found that highly qualified women in their twenties and thirties are drawing inspiration for success from female celebrities instead of top female executives, such as Ms Horlick.The women surveyed, who included those with postgraduate degrees, chose Madonna and Kylie Minogue on the grounds that they had managed to reinvent themselves even after their initial careers stalled. And these two pop divas have now become role models for thousands of women hoping to be the entrepreneurs of the future. According to one of Britain’s most prestigious business schools, the next generation is rejecting high-fliers, such as so-called superwomen Nicola Horlick and Marjorie Scardino, saying they are “scary” and have had to sacrifice too much. “The rules of liberal democracy are about no torture, free speech and fair trials.

Every time he denigrates these he undermines the fabric of our society.”. Kylie and Madonna were both youthful superstars Both went on to make millions singing and dancing. “In eight years he has dismantled centuries of judicial protection. Britain’s reputation as the world’s most tolerant nation is now under threat,” he said.If Mr Blair’s proposed terror legislation was unamended, said Anthony Scrivener QC, “Britain would be a significant step closer to a police state”. The Prime Minister spoke of “summary justice”, said the lawyer: “It would be better named street justice.”This week the Law Lords will consider whether evidence obtained under torture abroad should be admissible in British courts. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said admitting such evidence would undermine one of Britain’s basic freedoms.”The Prime Minister is trying in his own words to try to tear up the rules of the game,” she said.

Now there is an increasing tendency for people to look to the judges to protect their liberties,” he said.Mark Oaten, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said Tony Blair was transforming Britain into an authoritarian state. In the United States the Patriot Act included a system whereby a witness to a terrorist incident can be detained for up to a year. This is in the land of the free.”The senior barrister remarked that judges had now replaced MPs as the defenders of basic human rights.”People use d to look to their MPs as the first port of call to deal with any perceived injustice by the executive. “We have to be acute about protecting what is taken for granted as inalienable rights. “The police have made a case for extending the two weeks but to extend it to three months is excessive.”Lord Lester QC, a leading human rights lawyer, expressed concern that the Government was flouting human rights law and meddling with the courts.”If the Prime Minister and other members of the Government continue to threaten to undermine the Human Rights Act and interfere with judicial independence we shall have to secure our basic human rights and freedoms with a written constitution,” he said.Lord Carlile, a deputy High Court judge, warned against the whittling away of historic civil liberties. If we take that away from the judiciary we are really apeing what happened in Nazi Germany,” he said.Lord Ackner added that the Government’s proposals to hold terrorist suspects for three months without charge were overblown. He cautioned against “meddling” by politicians in the way the courts operate.”I think it is terribly important there should not be this apparent battle between the executive and the judiciary.