Sentamu's Protest

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The Andrew Marr show doesn't usually bring me to tears but this morning all that changed when his guest Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, during an empassioned plea for the world to rid Zimbabwe of Mugabe, tore off his dog collar, produced a pair of scissors and cut it up. The Archibishop has promised not to wear it again until Mugabe is deposed.

It was so surprising that it took a few seconds for the meaning of what he had done to sink in, but when it had all I felt was admiration for what must, for him, feel like a one man crusade. Something that hopefully is about to change.

In his own words: "You see as an Anglican, this is what I wear to identify myself that I'm a clergyman. Do you know what Mugabe has done? He's taken people's identity and literally if you don't mind, cut it to pieces. [The Archbishop starts cutting up his dog collar] This is what he's actually done, to a lot of - and in the end there's nothing. So as far as I'm concerned from now on I'm not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe's gone."

If you missed the programme, you can read the transcript or watch the entire programme for the next week here.