James Lawton: Government's stance is plain hypocrisy

A reader says that I muddied the waters of sport and politics when recently complaining about the pathetic grandstanding of the government on the matter of whether England should play a cricket match in Zimbabwe – and the dithering response of captain Nasser Hussain and his players.

In response to my assertion that the government had itself failed to lift a practical finger against Mugabe's atrocious government and had behaved with gut-wrenching hypocrisy, he asked: "What exactly does he mean?" Perhaps I should say it a little more slowly. I meant that the government had failed to lift a practical finger against Mugabe's atrocious regime and had behaved with appalling hypocrisy. The reader further speculated on whether I meant that the government should have (a) ordered an invasion of Zimbabwe and (b) prevented the cricketers going in the first place. Answers: Yes – and yes.