The war against terror loses touch with reality (again)...

We've got this really good plan, see. To catch the terrorists before they strike.

We're going to offer to sell people Kryptonite - and we're sure the terrorists will try to buy it, 'cos they know that they can do bad things with it. Kill people. Explode stuff. That sort of thing.

It'll just be a hoax, of course. A sting. As soon as they offer to buy the Kryptonite, we'll arrest them. Charge them with conspiracy to obtain dangerous substances for terrorist purposes. Lock 'em away for years. No problem.

What's that? Kryptonite doesn't exist you say? Who cares. Whether or not Kryptonite does or does not exist is irrelevant - so don't get so hung up on that bit. Doesn't matter. You try to buy Kryptonite, we send you to jail for many, many years. Simple as that.

That sounds more than a little bit stupid, doesn't it? But the UK police just tried to convict people for buying another (allegedly) fictional substance, red mercury. Strangely, it didn't work. Not just because the stuff doesn't exist, but still...

Oh, and the prosecution lawyer 'admitted the police had no idea if there even was such a thing as red mercury' and did indeed say "The Crown's position is that whether red mercury does or does not exist is irrelevant", as well as warning the jury not to get "hung up" on this fact...