I have great sympathy for Jeremiah Kure and his current experiences in Zimbabwe. But I would call into question his commment about Mugabe's lack of empathy. In the late 1980s I was living in the country, at a school called Peterhouse. In 1987 Mugave was the guest of honour at the school's speech day, where, among the various people he met, was the Rector's son Mark. Mark tragically died a couple of months later, and upon hearing the news, Mugabe sent a personal telegram of condolence to Mark's parents. In recent years I singularly failed to come to grips with the concept that a man who had already brutalised vast numbers of his population could find within himself the compassion to send such a telegram, especially to people who were part of the white elite. However, a few months ago, in preparing a profile of the man, I had a long and involved conversation with an old friend from Zimbabwe who gave some context to this example. Mugabe lost his own infant child while in prison, an event which had a profound effect. When Mark died, Mugabe could identify and empathise with the parents and their loss, hence the telegram. What he cannot do is translate that personal empathy onto the wider scale of the entire population. His increasing - and paranoid - withdrawal from wider public life and the resultant loss of contact with his citizens has meant an exacerbation of the existing trait. Nevertheless, to say that Mugabe lacks any empathy at all is misleading. What should have been said is that his empathy is conditional on personal contact.