HOSTAGE situations are a controversial subject when a balance needs to be struck between personal circumstances and government policy.

Negotiations or giving in to the hostage takers demands could lead to the release of the victim but this would inevitably result in the situation spiralling out of control with unreasonable requests being made in the future.

It could also mean that the kidnappers would continue to take hostages as a way of making governments agree to their terms.

Richmond and Twickenham Times reporter Sarah Woods took to the streets of Richmond to find out what the views of the public were.

Amardeep Randhawa, a student from Twickenham, said: "I don't think the government should negotiate because if you give them time they will keep doing it but if you ignore them they will go away."

James Brumwell, from Richmond, said: "No I don't think you should negotiate. It's a complicated issue as if you give them a green light it will happen again."

Geraldine Muir, from Twickenham, said: "It depends on the situation. I can understand why they don't want to as it would set a precedent but perhaps because of the situation in Iraq and because it is coming to light that we shouldn't have gone to war this should be a time when you can negotiate.

"We made a mistake so maybe we should look at talking to them."

Richard Warren, of Church Road, Richmond, said: "They could negotiate but they can't agree to their terms. The reason being that if they give in to one set they encourage people to take hostages and it would be a vicious circle of people taking hostages."

Simon Burrell, from Richmond, said: "I think they do already negotiate but don't let on. I think they negotiate to some extent but try not to publicise it, which is probably a good idea.

"It is not necessarily black and white - it is a difficult individual decision in each set of circumstances."