Genesis 42:11 - "We are all sons of one man, we are honest men, your servants are not spies."

1 Samuel 26:4 - "David sent out spies, and learned of a certainty that Saul had come."

With war going on simultaneously in all parts of the world, with border hostilities, with threats of disruption of our internal security being constantly dented into our ears, we are surely fully familiar with the concept of the spy. Espionage is big business. How many television and movie scripts have been based on spy stories; how many books have been written! And the story of espionage has remained virtually unchanged down through history.

Oh, of course, the methods are somewhat different. We now have all sorts of exotic devices to help us, and I don’t suppose that James Bond would have found it necessary …