What a contrast between a hero and a coward.

This morning on the BBC's Andrew Marr show the splendid Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, cut up his dog collar in protest at Robert Mugabe's destruction of the identity of the people and civil society in Zimbabwe. Sentamu, a former Bishop of Birmingham, was born in Uganda. His principalled stand contrasts strongly with the abject cowardice of the British government which could this week have stood up for freedom in Zimbabwe. But Gordon Brown bottled it yet again in a show of total neglect.

Brown should have gone to the EU/Africa summit in Lisbon and called for the arrest of Mugabe on charges of fraud, tyrrany, and attempted genocide. Britain has a deep responsibility to stand up for the rights and the identity of all people in Zimbabwe, a once proud Nation that should be the bread basket of Africa. And yet this unprincipalled government did not have the courage or the self belief to do the right thing.

Shame on them. And hurrah for Dr Sentamu.