After 10 days in Burundi, you find that you have become exhausted just from trying to figure out what the conflict is about. You have been made privy to all sorts of theories, most of them leading to a dead end.

I gave my editor a stern and solemn promise that, in return for being allowed back into the pages of the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>, I would tell no more stories about things that happen to me at African airports, or on African airlines.

So many things have changed for the better in Britain. And yet it seems that even though I am somewhat strongly disposed to give New Labour’s New Britain a New Stamp of Approval, the behaviour of the New British themselves often leaves much to be desired.

It is something of a shock to be back in England, my exile home of many years. The country is as grimly grey as it ever was, even though we are approaching mid-summer.

OK, I give in. This is going to be another airport story. Time used to be when Moscow’s Scheremetyevo airport was a hub for a certain kind of world traveller. I am not just talking about communism’s so-called fellow travellers.

The George W Bush administration in Washington DC clearly means business. They are moving towards delivering the most massive tax cuts in history for their citizens- especially those who already have lots of money anyway.

Accra, Ghana. It takes a couple of days to settle into the new rhythm, the different kind of mindset you have to take on to decide what you think about another place, a different chunk of the embattled African continent.

And so, lest I be tarred in perpetuity with a brush that says I have only ever had frivolous words to add to the debate about racism (and therefore must belong to "the other side") let me try and sort out a few thoughts on the subject.