Let’s put our own house in order first

If the free world was now doing what the moralists are urging it to do, we would be occupying both Burma and Zimbabwe - almost certainly against local resistance.

For however much locals might dream about liberation, the reality of having foreigners - particularly white foreigners - in charge soon proves deeply humiliating, just another case of the cure often being worse than the disease.

So, having turned the Middle East against the West because of Iraq, we would now have given the same kind of offence to Africa and Asia.

Nor can we really expect the Africans and Asians to accept our motives for wanting to intervene as purely high-minded, judging by America's present plans to leave a string of military bases behind them when they eventually leave Iraq.

Just imagine the degree of suspicion which would arise in the

West if China now offered to liberate Zimbabwe. Quite certainly Western foreign offices would be full of woe. After all, China still claims to have liberated Tibet.

As for South Africa doing the liberation of Zimbabwe itself, that has always been a bad joke since once Mandela has passed away, the likelihood is there will be a South African Mugabe - particularly in regard to the wealthy white minority.

Africa for the Africans; Asia for the Asians and (what I would like to see) Europe for the Europeans. We Europeans should concentrate on healing our own social and political sores, before trying to put the rest of the world to rights.

Heaven knows, there are more than enough of these, starting perhaps, in England's case, with the savagery on the cricket fields.