Snowmail: Brown 'appalled' by Zimbabwe

Last Modified: 12 Apr 2008
By: Samira Ahmed

On tonight's show...

Samira here. Plenty of dilemmas on the programme tonight: No announcement yet on the Zimbabwe election. The opposition MDC are widely believed to have won outright. Our prime minister, Gordon Brown, has issued his strongest criticism yet: "I cannot understand why it has taking so long to announce the result of the presidential elections," he said in a statement last night. "I am appalled by the signs that the regime is once again resorting to intimidation and violence." He said "the international community's patience with the [Mugabe] regime is wearing thin". Mr Mugabe's response today? "I know Brown; he's a little tiny dot, eh, on this world."

The MDC's tried to raise the stakes, refusing to take part in a mooted second election (insisting they won the first, outright); and threatening of a general strike. But growing intimidation of opposition supporters and activists suggests the outlook is pessimistic. As southern African leaders gather in Lusaka (without President Robert Mugabe, since he announced he was too busy to attend) to discuss the post-election crisis the early words from South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, suggest a continuing insistence to stand firm with another former freedom fighter against the alleged interference of former colonial powers. So what are the prospects?

At home the case of the mother who was denied a kidney transplant from her dead daughter, despite the 21 year's alleged intent to help her mum has aroused much controversy. Laura Ashworth died in hospital after a suspected asthma attack; but had not declared any formal intent to donate organs while alive, and certainly hadn't begun any process to see if she was a match for her mother.

The mother, 39 year-old Rachel Leake, who is now due to get a kidney from her sister (who is formally registered) is "really angry" after hospital authorities upheld the law which forbids the setting of conditions on organ donations. (You may remember the case if a would-be donor who didn't want his organs going to black people, his preferences were refused for the same reason).

The family did go ahead with donation, which the Human Tissue authority has acknowledged as a generous gesture. Ms Ashworth's organs were instead given to three strangers. While her local MP and family are outraged, the ethics are more complex.

Doctors have been keen to publicise organ "swaps", where healthy people donate kidneys to strangers, in deals that ensure their own relatives get a match. The latest (in the United States, announced only this week) involved six donors and six recipients, like a human tissue housing chain.

So why is that acceptable, but a case like Laura Ashworth's not? Our social affairs correspondent, Victoria Macdonald has more.

In sport, with Manchester United facing Arsenal tomorrow, the focus will be mainly on those sides embroiled in the Premier League's relegation battle. Plus, it's the final of rugby's EDF Energy Cup at Twickenham, can the Ospreys avenge last year's defeat by Leicester? And in golf, how Justin Rose became a cropper at one disastrous hole in the US Masters at Augusta.

And a special report from India, where the cricket "super league" is threatening to grab the best players from around the world. It has already become huge money-spinner ahead of its launch next week; there are growing concerns about its impact on the national test teams both in India and elsewhere.