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And I barely need to mention the lack of press freedom, the intimidation of the opposition, the police brutality, the human rights violations and so on.But what can sport do about it? The players I spoke to both asked me if I thought it would make any difference either way if they did or didn’t tour. I applaud the decision of Steve Harmison for refusing to do so.For most Zimbabweans life gets increasingly difficult. Inflation has cut into most of what they earn; they live with an ailing health sector. The black power salute by Tommy Smith and John Carlos, the boycotts of apartheid South Africa and Nelson Mandela holding the World Cup wearing a Springbok jersey in a unified South Africa, they all “made a difference”.
So isn’t the England cricket tour of Zimbabwe a missed opportunity to score political points against the despotic Mugabe regime? I would say an emphatic yes, that the English (and I’ll come to exactly which English in a moment) should not be turning out at the Harare Sports Club today I can’t blame the players for being there. Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and Mobuto all used sport to attempt to curry favour or manipulate public sentiment. I know that when I was a player I rarely thought of the things I think of now, but knowing what I know now, if I were in their position and I were English, I wouldn’t dream of touring now.

Two I spoke to feel, more than a little reluctantly, that they are just professionals fulfilling a contract to play for their country.That is their right. However it has come about, if human rights is in vogue, then that must be a good thing. Janet Street-Porter is in the jungleNoreena Hertz is the author of ‘IOU: The Debt Threat and Why We Must Defuse It’ (Fourth Estate). Sport and politics mix, like it or not But sport can be a tool for good or evil. Rather worthily I did try and engage some guests on issues relating to the arms trade, refugees, and Scott Peterson’s death-penalty-by-jury trial in California.. but there are only so many blank stares a girl can take. And on The X Factor, yep, I do religiously vote.This being so, you can imagine my excitement when I arrived at the Royal Opera House on Monday to see Puccini’s La Rondine and discovered that prima donna Angela Gheorghiu would not be performing and instead, the unknown and inexperienced Katie Van Kooten would, for one night only, be filling her shoes.

But whether London’s trendies were out en masse because Thursday was the “ticket”, or because they have the faintest idea of what Amnesty does, the upshot was more than £100,000 raised. Amnesty’s 21st-century extravaganza in King’s Cross last week in support of its new Human Rights Action Centre in Shoreditch was attended by London’s glitterati Unlikely advocates for the cause perhaps. “We could be seeing the next big thing,” I whispered to my friend And I think we did see just that. Van Kooten looked beautiful, her voice was sublime, her acting authentic and, most wonderfully for me, when she took her bows, her wide-eyed smile revealed just how excited and overwhelmed she was by the deafening applause Human rights is the new black. What could be better, X Factor and Musicality combined before my very eyes? Some of the audience were disappointed, but I was delighted and keen to learn how little she had done. It’s time to go public about my addiction ­ to The X Factor and the fantastic Musicality. I just love the format of thousands of unknowns, some of whom have huge raw talent, working their way to a coveted star spot Their struggles and disappointments move me Their singlemindedness and humility inspire me Their triumph elevates my mood I have favourites who I cheer and champion.

What does worry me is that Britain’s most senior politicians seem to have completely forgotten about birth control. What with Blair an unplanned father at 47, and Blunkett evidently not having practised safe sex, what message is that giving our youth? Whatever his next job may be, it shouldn’t be at the Department of Health. I’m no fan of his extremely illiberal policies, but the separation of state and boudoir should surely be sacrosanct. If it chooses instead to allow justice to be so blatantly politicised, then countries such as Argentina, the Philippines, South Africa, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia might just think it worthwhile to start provoking Bush. For it cannot be a matter of chance that the only country which has been singled out for such “special” treatment, is the one that the United States has just invaded.Safer sex, minister At a time when the Child Support Agency has revealed that only half of Britain’s 750,000 single parents (predominantly mothers) are getting what they are owed by their dead-beat former partners and 120,000 lone parents are receiving no payments at all, David Blunkett’s commitment to his role as a father makes a distinct change.

Instead, the Home Secretary is being pilloried for wanting to be certain who is the father of his former lover Kimberly Quinn’s children, one of whom is yet unborn.How selfish of him to want to ruin her family, columnists wrote How wrong to drag the children through the courts. But why should Blunkett, by establishing paternity, ruin Quinn’s family any more than it already has been? And wouldn’t Blunkett’s walking away from the situation be much more damaging for the children, if one or both do prove to be his? Shouldn’t we be commending him for showing he’s willing to take his parental responsibilities seriously?And, until all the facts of the case are established, I shall wonder what any of this has to do with Blunkett’s ability to be an effective home secretary. The challenge facing the international community is how to establish a fair and transparent process to rule on issues of odiousness and legitimacy. Nor should the Filipinos have to pay for Imelda Marcos’s shoes, nor the Argentinians for the monies stolen from them by a regime that “disappeared” tens of thousands of people. What is good for Iraq must be good for the rest of the world.