Aminesia?
Sir : The release and deportation of Mr Thomas Webb, a British subject, by the warlord Amin, after a month's 'detention' in Uganda, renders a certain comparison easier.
Not long ago, the Rhodesia Herald was called 'sycophantic' in your pages. 1 invite your readers to take a look now at the British press and British television.
A little over a year ago, on the similar 'arrest' of another British subject, Mr Denis Hills—on this occasion, a complete and threatened hostage—Uganda dropped suddenly out of the news here; and the situation has so remained. From the liberal Observer, through the various shades of television, to the patriotic Daily Telegraph, coverage of Uganda has been limited. A sudden and isolated Observer report of recent atrocities in that country may indeed have helped to release Mr Webb, by the counter-threat of further revelations. But in this match there is a double hold, and Amin's is mostly under the chin of the British media.
Mostly; why should we not assume that there now exists a tacit agreement— brought about by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office—between Amin and this country, as represented by the press in particular, not to upset each other too much ? The assumption may be wrong; in which case, let us have it out in the open, and wait for any replies. Or will Fleet Street loyalty once again prevail ?
Such a deal might be thought to be necessary, in the interests of this country
and the safety of its citizens. After all, even the Pope was forced to grant this man an audience—an audience!—by blackmail threats to all the Catholics in Uganda. But the Vatican does not have the powers of a nation-state; so, the rOle of Britain and the British press could hardly be called an heroic one. People who live in this glasshouse should not throw stones at Rhodesian newspapers.
M. M. Carlin United Oxford & Cambridge University Club, 71 Pall Mall, London SW1
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