Speaking of Zimbabwe, this came from Maureen Lipman in yesterday’s Guardian:

I passed a demo in the Strand on Saturday, outside Zimbabwe House. A small group of people protested in the rain about repression, corruption and starvation in their once thriving and beautiful country. Zimbabwe’s leader is as cracked and corrupt as Iran’s, but Africa will never merit the kind of outrage generated by the Middle East. One wonders why.

There is a deeply unsexy charity for Zimbabwean women which might interest you. Their only tampon factory has closed down: the farms are no longer able to produce cotton and the women of Zimbabwe can’t afford to buy towels at inflated prices. A box of tampons costs £4 and the average monthly wage is £12. This forces them to use newspaper or leaves, leading to infections, which their partners often view with suspicion. Domestic violence ensues.

The charity Dignity.Period! has a truck full of tampons, donated by South African women and big business, which has been held up at the border since Thursday because customs are demanding taxes of $10,000 (£5,622). A benefit for the charity will be held at the 20th Century Theatre in Notting Hill on May 26, call 020-8991 2502 or see www.actsa.org for more details.

As if falling to the communists wasn’t hard enough.

We should pass swiftly over the fact that the sub-editor of this piece needs a clip round the ear for the way it was arranged. The passage on Zimbabwe was at the bottom of the page after two lengthy and toe-curlingly pooterish sections about London buses and Lipman slamming her thumb in a car door. I wonder how many people didn’t bother getting to the end. Or didn’t get past the headline (”What is it about London Bus drivers that makes them think they don’t have to obey the same rules as the rest of us”).

There’s more details here and donations can be made online.

There’s also Early Day Motion 862 on the subject that MPs can sign. If yours isn’t on the list then go to it. Takes five minutes.

Update: I emailed my MP yesterday and not only did she sign the Early Day Motion, I received a reply in the post this morning. Credit where’s credit due.