Several people have contacted me about what I have written, always welcome even when not in agreement with my views, my feelings remain that whatever faults there were with the Ian Smith idea of a Rhodesia governed by a responsible government, it is still an absolute tragedy to all the people of Zimbabwe that Robert Mugabe and his ruling elite have destroyed what the British had created.

I do not accept the view that 'if only Ian Smith had handed over power to another 'black' leader earlier that things would be different', however nice it would be to think that there were or are good long term 'black' leaders waiting in the background who would have only the best interests in their country's future, I cannot think of one at this time who I would like to live under in any of the sub Saharan Africa countries and do not believe that Zimbabwe would be any different.

It should be noted that this is about the first article I have seen in the last month, if not longer, dated 28th May 2005. When Zimbabwe was Rhodesia ruled by the so called 'evil racist regime of Ian Smith', every newspaper, every radio and TV station in the UK featured Rhodesia every single day and night, on the front page too, note that this is on page 51 of the Times, no mention is made by the BBC on this day.

Peta Thornycroft reports on the deteriorating daily struggle to buy basics in Harare THEY are called "hope queues", but mostly they bring nothing but bitter frustration. They consist of drivers with empty tanks who converge on garages where a rumour has gone around that a petrol tanker may be coming soon. Sometimes queues build up merely on the off-chance that fuel may arrive. The motorists often wait for hours for nothing.