I do not wish to go into the rights and wrongs of Blair's involvement in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. My point is quite simple: at this time in our history, we are being confronted with so many huge problems - unemployment, corruption, poor service delivery, the education crisis, the recent mine massacre and other horrific violence - that I find it most inappropriate for some South Africans to be making so much noise about issues that pertain to other countries.

Of what concern, really, is Blair's visit to a family living in a shack?

No doubt the protesters are not "have-nots" but live in comfy if not luxurious homes. What about those who are so destitute that they don't even have a spare R2.20 to buy The Times and, if they did, would not have bothered to vote in the paper's recent Tony Blair poll.