The Israeli general who commanded the destruction of the only Jewish settlement in the Sinai before it was returned to Egypt recently offered Ariel Sharon advice on how to carry out his pledge to remove settlers from the Gaza strip. ”Evicting someone from the home they’ve lived in for 20 years isn’t a simple matter,” wrote Brigadier General Obed Tira.

There is an elderly woman with a long-winded anecdote about the old days on the prairies; a farmer with a desperate appeal for drought assistance and lower petrol prices; and a set of African refugees who want a group photograph of themselves. Tom Daschle, the most powerful Democrat in Washington, has time for them all.

They were fêted by Robert Mugabe as patriots and pioneers in a radical redistribution of land to redress colonial injustice. But the war veterans who ousted white farmers have now themselves been invaded. Last month, police units fanned across Trelawney, a rural district outside the capital, Harare, and erased settlements with matches and mallets.