Scottish Hero on the Troofers

John Smeaton, one of the men who helped foil the terror attack at Glasgow Airport, on his experience with the blackshirts:

He has spent months pointing out that he was not the only hero on the day; that he actually didn't do very much. That was the gist of his acceptance speech for a CNN Heroes award on December 6 in America, and everyone lapped it up. He expressed similar sentiments at the 9/11 memorial service in New York in September, which he describes as "the most poignant and humbling moment of my life". His past belief in the conspiracy theories surrounding the Twin Towers attacks were swept away.

"The most disrespectful thing I've ever seen was these people walking about with T-shirts blaming the American government for the attack," he says. "Take that and shove it as far up your arse as you can get it."