Tribulations

I feel I should apologize. Several times a week I write another blog, mainly regarding entertainment at http://tonyklinger.blogspot.co.uk I am also on the run to a meeting in the City of London and situations like this mean that I try to write my companion piece here on days like this, in a lighter, briefer style. The reasoning is that it would be easier and less complicated. The trouble is that there has been hardly one day during the recent past in which nothing of consequence has happened.

Even the latest twist in our tortured judicial procedures seems trivial by comparison with the issues of the world today. Police investigating extreme crime in the UK went into meltdown yesterday. A major crime trial was halted when the judge stated that the accused had the right to know who the witnesses against him were. Up to this point it had become standard operating procedure when dealing with suspected violent criminals for the witnesses against them to be granted total anonymity. As a consequence, the man on trial had not been able to see who his accusers were and his lawyers successfully argued that it was not in the interests of justice for a conviction to be gained in this way.

This means that there can be no further anonymous witnesses and this in turn will result in convicted criminals being released on appeal on this basis, and about forty cases currently going through the courts collapsing because the witnesses will withdraw in fear for their safety and that of their families. It also equates to already convicted criminals being released on this basis. There were immediate moves made by the government to find a way to over-rule this judge’s ruling. It seems as if the judiciary in the UK are determined to be politically correct at the cost of any common sense.

At the same time, in Southern Africa only the President of Zambia can hold his head up. He is the only leader to unequivocally condemn the tin pot dictator of nearby Zimbabwe. “ A fair election was not possible,” echoed the head of the United Nations. Mugabe called the MDC opposition leader, “a cry baby”.

Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from Friday's presidential run-off, handing victory to President Robert Mugabe. Mr. Tsvangirai said there was no point running when elections would not be free and fair and "the outcome is determined by... Mugabe himself".

He called on the global community to step in to prevent "genocide". But the ruling Zanu-PF said Mr. Tsvangirai had taken the decision to avoid "humiliation" in the poll.

The man still illegitimately claiming to be President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is seemingly determined to go ahead with the election on Friday, despite having forced the opposition leader to withdraw from the process.

Belatedly even South Africa announced that they accepted the UN leaders comment regarding Mugabe, as the President of the ruling ANC said that they feel that Mugabe has gone out of control. The American government has also condemned the Zimbabwean leaders attempts to pretend at legitimacy. Still, no one has done anything concrete to force Mugabe out of power, and he isn’t going to volunteer to vanish. Perhaps, as distasteful as it feels, the best solution is to offer the old despot safe passage to a neutral country with some of his money and retinue and a guarantee of non-prosecution or pursuit as long as he agrees to retire. Surely anything that warranties his safe exit would be of huge benefit to the world.

Even this suffering is put into perspective when you compare it to the pain aching at the heart of the people of Somalia, already racked by civil war and now afflicted by drought and crop failure. People in this country have nothing but their unbelievable endurance and capacity to suffer. Estimates are that 2.5 million people are being given aid currently, and the situation continues to get worse.

This puts into perspective our griping at the cost of fuel, the problems with inflation and the fall in our house prices. How would we feel if we lived in Zimbabwe and had no democracy, the threat of violence and a lack of everything? Or, heaven forbid, in Somalia, where your only means of transportation might be your feet, and you have no food, hygiene or medicine.