The Hampshire lad laughs “You’re joking, right?” he says. Managing director Matt Atkinson would like to know if there is a strategy for making this work less onerous or even avoidable.
“When the company was set up eight years ago, we predominantly tried to sell these services directly to the corporate market. But individuals in these big businesses keep moving on, and as a result, the firm constantly finds itself investing time and money in making new contacts in its client companies.

It’s individual relationships that make business relationships work, but what happens when your contacts in other organisations are no longer there?

Aurora Kendrick James specialises in telecommunications management and advisory services, with an emphasis on billing systems, and works with some very large clients. But if you mostly use a wired connection, the P1 will bring peace of mind.RATING: 3 out of 5.PROS: high level of security, easy set-up.CONS: no direct help for wireless network users.PRICE: £135.CONTACT: www.zyxel . There is no wireless connection built in, and although it is possible to use a WiFi-to-ethernet bridge, this is one more piece of equipment to lug around.Regular wireless LAN users will be better off buying a good-quality software firewall. This is probably a price, however, that most laptop users will accept in return for better security.The main drawback to the hardware firewall approach, though, is that it is not going to help anyone who connects their laptop to a wireless network – such as in a public hotspot or hotel. This forms a secure “tunnel” on the public internet, protecting data between the laptop and the company system.In tests, the P1 seemed to slow network connections down somewhat, especially to graphics-heavy websites. As long as the company network is set up for VPN access, the P1 will manage the connection without any further software. This is useful, as someone who is on the road a lot might have to adjust some settings to match local connections.The P1 also works as an adaptor for virtual private networks (VPNs).

It is also very easy to set up using the web-based wizard: a few minutes should have it up and running. The firewall’s settings can be accessed through a web browser interface, so there is no need to install any software.The P1 works with Windows, Macintosh and Linux, so there should be no compatibility issues. It is about the size of a handheld computer and can be powered directly from a laptop’s USB port.Setting up the P1 is easy: first connect the USB cable or power adaptor, and then two network cables – one to the internet and one to the computer. The one in Windows XP is increasingly being targeted by hackers looking for weaknesses.ZyXEL’s ZyWALL P1 is a “personal” firewall box designed for home users, small networks or people on the move. Most company networks have heavy-duty firewall equipment between them and the wider internet; many DSL or cable adaptors for the home have at least basic firewall functions built in. But these can offer no protection outside the office or home.
Windows and the Mac operating systems do have their own firewall software, but not everyone will be happy with the level of security they provide. Any internet user who is serious about security needs some form of firewall.

All my friends seem to have strong marriages I can’t imagine any of them splitting up. The effects on us and more importantly our children are colossal. He has the children every other weekend and on Thursday nights I try to relish the free time but actually I miss them. Yes, I have times when I wonder if I made the right decision.

My ex-husband was a complex character but perhaps I gave up on relationships too easily. The bearded 49-year-old’s election as Iran’s president last summer took millions of Iranians, as well as the rest of the world, by surprise. Since then he has caused outrage by demanding that Israel be “wiped off the map”, questioning the historical authenticity of the Holocaust, and saying that if Europe and America wanted to atone by giving the Jews a homeland, it should be on their territory: “Why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?”. If anyone embodies the reason why the nuclear showdown with Iran sends shivers through Western capitals, let alone the country’s Arab neighbours, it is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The depth of our catalogue is extraordinary.”BIOGRAPHYBORN: 21 October 1956.EDUCATION: Bolton School; University of Newcastle – BA in economics.CAREER1977-79: musician.1979-80: production controller, Multiple Sound Distributors.1980-81: production manager, Logo Records.1981-82: manager, new release administration, RCA.1982 to now: EMI – working his way up from production controller, via catalogue marketing manager and numerous other posts, to become head of recorded music for the UK and Ireland.Other positions: chairman of the Brit Awards; trustee of the Sound Foundation, EMI’s charity to fund music projects and specialist schools..

“Who could have predicted their success? On paper, it looked unlikely.”EMI is looking to increase its investment in its artists, says Wadsworth. “If we grow our UK business, it doesn’t just stay here: it has a multiplier effect around the world. Quality and innovation mean long-term sales – that’s good business. If you judge by these factors, you won’t go far wrong.” He cites the huge success of “cartoon” band Gorillaz, co-founded by Blur’s Damon Albarn. “I like to nurture our artists and people: that adds value.” This sense of encouragement derives, he believes, from his own upbringing.Wadsworth places great faith in his A&R teams and believes you cannot be led only by research “The market moves on too quickly. We try to be aware of the market but to give priority to quality and creativity. “If you’re going to change – and the music industry has faced radical change – then the only way is to bring the organisation with you.”He tells employees there is no limit to what they can achieve.

“I’ve got people around me who all started doing different things,” he says. “It was a good deal.”Wadsworth is a natural front man himself He likes to be visible to his staff and communicative. “By the time the deal was finally negotiated, everyone was in the same place.” EMI’s price remains secret, though reports suggest the deal is worth up to £80m.Wadsworth is keen to highlight EMI’s role in Williams’ success. “To become the biggest superstar outside the US, you have to accept that the record company has been a good part of that,” he says. When they didn’t get it, they said Williams was finished.”Robbie Williams stayed with EMI, Wadsworth believes, because it had done “a brilliant job” and the relationship worked “It was not because we offered the most money. “For its pure size, this deal was the boldest thing I’ve been involved in All our rivals wanted it.

Under its chairman, Allan Leighton, and chief executive, Adam Crozier, the state-controlled group has returned to the black, but the 14,500-strong post office network is still loss making. “The original plan was [to hold it] but now they are not so sure about what they are consulting on,” he said.A spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry insisted a consultation would still go ahead but was unable to say when.The future of post office branches is a big issue for Royal Mail. The payments, however, are due to stop in April 2008, at the end of a two-year “notice period” that must be served by the Government.
After requests from interested parties, such as Postwatch, the consumer watchdog, and the charity Age Concern, stakeholders were told by the Government that a “full and public” consultation would be held ahead of the two-year notice period.But a senior source at the Royal Mail said the Government has since changed its mind and no longer plans to hold a consultation before the April deadline. The Government has spent £150m a year since 2003 supporting rural branches, many of which are in remote locations and have little business. The Government has backtracked on a pledge to hold a public consultation over the future funding of 8,500 rural post offices before a spring deadline on what to do about them. But Mr Bowman, who was the chief executive of drinks giant Allied Domecq until it was sold to Pernod Ricard last year, stopped short of promising that Scottish Power would not be sold under his watch.. It’s pretty homophobic around here.”MATT WILSON, FROM MANLY:”Many board riders probably are homophobic When you are a kid you think it’s not cool to be gay When you grow up you realise how stupid you were.”.

Philip Bowman, the new chief executive of Scottish Power, has already tried to reassure workers that he has not been brought in to sell the group. They are very macho.”GUS DAVIES, STUDENT, 20:”There are gay surfers, definitely, but I don’t know about any gay surfing scene. It’s hard to be camp on a surfboard or anything like that.”CLINTON MOODY, 32, FROM MANLY:”I’ve never bumped into any. There’s too much testosterone in the water for them.”MATT SKELTON, TEENAGER:”I know two lesbian surfers but not any gay men No one is really open about it. You have your shorts and boards – how can you be gay?”JONAS LARSEN, FROM SWEDEN:”The aggressive nature of many young Australian males is one of the downsides of the sport even if you are not gay. “I know there is a macho image – with things like big wave riding, for example – but surfers tend to be quite open. Homosexuality is probably more accepted within the surfing community than in other, more traditional sports.”THE WORD ON MANLY BEACHMARK WASHINGTON, FAMILY MAN, 37:”It’s not the sort of environment to be openly gay.

“Surfers have always had a bohemian lifestyle and been quite alternative and non-conformist,” said Ms Hillman. “There’s a lot of sex in it; there’s teenage characters; there’s drugs; there’s a lot of swearing and quite surreal moments,” he said.Joanne Hillman, a spokeswoman for the British Surfing Association, which is based at Fistral Beach in Newquay, the spiritual home of English surfing, said that despite the sport’s image, surfers in general were very accepting of homosexuality. He refuses to tone down the explicit nature of the story and expects it to make as much of a splash when it’s screened as it has even before it has been made. But he couldn’t find any, so he settled for straight surfers who are also non-actors. A spokesman said he knew of one homosexual competitor in sport, but he had decided not to come out publicly.Ed Aldridge tried to cast gay surfers in his film, which he hopes to finish by June in time for the festival season. Bent Boards is even organising a “let’s go surfing day” as part of Victoria’s annual gay Midsumma Festival.The official body, Surfing Australia, said there was no discrimination against gay surfers and it would be illegal if there were.

That will have to happen because we are coming towards the end of the period of increased spending, even on the Chancellor’s optimistic assumptions. There must be things we can learn from Europe as well as the US. We have not looked much to the rest of Europe, while Europe to its credit has sometimes looked to the UK.Given that the efficiency of UK public services is not high by world standards, this seems a narrow approach. The instinct of the Chancellor is to look to the US for policy initiatives, find something that seems to work and then apply it here. But it is hard to defend a budget deficit stuck above 3 per cent of GDP, not because of some arbitrary Maastricht criterion but because it is damaging to the longer-term growth of the economy.That leads to a further concern, the quality of UK public spending. You can have a debate about the scale of the fiscal tightening that is required, and you can have another debate about the balance between increases in taxation and cuts in spending plans. There is a good new paper out from Christopher Smallwood at Lombard Street, which argues that the two main motors of growth since 1997 – a consumer spending boom and a £50bn switch of public finances from surplus to deficit – are cutting out.

He thinks there will have to be a switch in policy akin to that in 1992 when Britain left the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, laying the basis for this period of growth. Policy will have to switch to promoting investment and exports. That will mean “fiscal consolidation” to make room for interest rate cuts and a lower sterling exchange rate.That is broadly right. Yes, it has grown strongly, particularly given the high level of GDP from which it started, but the record is not that amazing.As for the UK, there are some reasons to suspect the strong performance will not continue.

The adulation of the US, evident in some of the Chancellor’s remarks, also appears a bit excessive. Spain has grown faster than the UK and, if you take the 25 members of the EU as a whole, they have actually done a bit better than the US, despite the drag of the big three.So seen in its wider context, the UK performance is pretty good but not exceptional. Eastern Europe has leapt forward, but of course it started from a long way back The European big three have undoubtedly done very poorly However, some other European countries have done well. Mr Brown is apt to harangue his fellow finance ministers about their nations’ under-performance This does not play well in Brussels. If it is mildly irritating for Britons to be told in Budget speeches that the UK has achieved a longer period of sustained economic growth than its competitors, it is seriously irritating for foreign finance ministers contemplating their armies of the unemployed.Historically, the Chancellor and his predecessors have a decent caseYou can see the crude growth numbers since 1994 in the third chart. The worry for the Chancellor – and ultimately for the rest of us – is not the excessive deficit now but rather its stubborn refusal to come down in recent years and probably in future ones.This leads to a broader issue: the general performance of the UK vis-?is other developed nations. You can cut the amount of duty you pay on petrol by switching to a more efficient car; or the amount of income tax by switching more income into a pension; or VAT by switching spending to non-VAT goods and services, such as a foreign holiday instead of a new suit.There are signs, too, that the Inland Revenue is getting increasingly desperate to get revenue in.

You can control your spending but not your revenue – in the sense that while the Treasury can set tax rates, it cannot set how people will respond. You can see in the second graph how successive estimates of the deficit this year has proved too optimistic This raises doubts about Treasury estimates in the future. But these projections are quite fragile because a country’s fiscal deficit is the difference between two very large numbers. Last year, the US deficit was more than 4 per cent, but there has been a sudden surge in tax revenues in recent months, which has narrowed the gap.For the UK, the problem has been the repeated shortfalls in tax revenue. To put it into perspective, the UK deficit this year looks like being better than that of the European big three but worse than that of the US (see first graph). For some countries, 3 per cent is already too high.However, the EC has focused attention on Mr Brown’s failure to meet a target that he himself used to cite draws attention both to the gradual deterioration of the UK’s fiscal position and the antagonistic relationship the Chancellor has with the EU hierarchy.The deteriorating fiscal position is widely noted.

I wanted very much to ride myself, but I fell off, got the bruises, lost my nerve and my life changed because my marriage broke up and I didn’t want to do it any more But I didn’t lose my love for riding Biker culture absolutely fascinates me I think it’s enormous fun, I love riding around. Then I thought “why not?” Riding pillion is also a secret little joke against myself, because it’s my public acknowledgement that I never managed to pass my test. In it I said that I would never ride pillion on a Harley across the States. I love concentration, I love it in people; I love it in text. I love things that are very deep and very concentrated and meditation is part of that.Bel Mooney, Writer and BroadcasterRIDING PILLION ON A HARLEY-DAVIDSONYears ago I wrote an article about getting older and coming to terms with all the things you will never do. For life – and, of course, for work – meditation directs one or steers one into the way of concentration.

When I first met him he was very prescient: he said I don’t think you breathe very well, and I said I don’t – to tell you the truth I’m not sure I live very well He sent me one of his breathing tapes Breathing is one of the steps towards meditation. To be aware of the breathing, and to watch it as well as hear it – just to watch one’s breathing going in and out, is a very good device. We think billions of thoughts every day, apparently, and to focus briefly or lengthily on that non-thought or nothing is terribly hard My device for doing it is breathing One of my great friends is Dr Andrew Weil, who is a guru. They were very lucky sheep.Edna O’Brien, AuthorMEDITATINGWhat drew me to meditation is what I think is very, very valuable and deep – that it stops – or helps to stop – the thoughts rattling on and on.

I also made a harness for him and took photos of him being a lawnmower So we had some fun with them. I’d go out into the orchard and Xeno would run towards me like a dog. I used to consult Xeno – look into his big round eyes and ask him to impart some wisdom about the future Consult him as you would an oracle He just looked at me full of puzzlement He died of old age, about 12 years old It upset me very much at the time I was young enough then to think about daft ideas like that They were like pets. One of my sheep I called Sadie after my daughter, and another I called Xeno after the Sophist philosopher He’s in my book Between the Eyes. I have a two-and-a-half-acre paddock with apple trees at the back here in Maidstone, which is where my sheep were because they kept the grass down I had about half a dozen. They are beautiful things.Ralph Steadman, ArtistSHEEP HUSBANDRYI’ve always loved sheep – I think they’re gorgeous creatures They’re placid and I look on their stupidity as a wisdom.

The great thing about them is that you can come in at any price range. Proper map collectors would have a fit, but I do keep quite a lot on display. They’re English because I was particularly interested in English history Some of the earliest ones are from the 14th century. My collection has probably proved to be a very astute investment, not that I would ever want to sell any You can pay millions of pounds for maps – not that I have. The thing that really turns me on about maps is that they are cultural, economic and political reflections of the time in which they were made They are a part of history I’ve got around 100. Occasionally, I was allowed one as long as I didn’t tell my mum how much he had spent on a stamp.

He said: “We heard about the iron from [Dutch] soldiers who were on exercise near by. When they tried radios in the drop zone it was very unclear and there was lots of static.”In medieval times, there was a large iron-ore industry in the area and there was a lot of iron in the soil and that got me thinking. Many believe that the plan could have finished the war by the end of 1944.The soil’s effect on radios was discovered by chance by a local historical expert, Adrian Groeneweg, who helps to run the museum dedicated to the battle. As a result, critical supplies fell into German hands, and of the 35,000 British, American and Polish troops in Operation Market Garden, 17,000 were casualties.

Of the 10,000-man British division, 1,500 were killed, 6,500 captured and only 2,000 escaped.The risky gamble by then General Bernard Montgomery was meant to take and hold five bridges deep in occupied Holland until the British First Army was able to win through and link up to cross the Rhine and sweep into Germany. This, not any intrinsic fault with the radios, could have caused them to malfunction, leaving troops and their headquarters unable to communicate. For 60 years, Arnhem – the Allies’ last major defeat of the Second World War – has been a byword for military over-ambition, poor intelligence, faulty equipment and the courage of the airborne troops. Immortalised in popular imagination by the film A Bridge Too Far, the battle was depicted as men fighting impossible odds after they were dropped, with radios that would not work, in an area dominated by two German Panzer divisions in September 1944.
But a new study has found another reason for the defeat: the high metallic content of the soil around the little Dutch town. Fr Righi is considering whether to appear at a fresh hearing on 27 January but maintains justice is on his side: “Cascioli says Jesus didn’t exist and I said he did The judge will decide.”.

But the appeal court found against him and ordered him to pay €1,500 (£1,100) in fines.Mr Cascioli then offered to withdraw the charges, on condition that the clergyman prove the existence of Jesus. After another hearing ordered the case to be filed as a waste of time, he took the case to Rome, arguing that the judge in Viterbo was biased against him. “This fraud guarantees them all the financial advantages from donations from the faithful,” he told La Stampa.The public prosecutor’s office in Viterbo initially threw out the case as “totally unfounded” but Mr Cascioli appealed to the judges’ Superior Council, which ordered a higher court in Perugia to inform Fr Righi that he was under investigation. He claims that Fr Righi, and by extension the whole Church, have broken Italian law on abuso di credulita popolare (abuse of popular belief) and sostituzione di persona or impersonation.

He says the clergy’s main motive is financial, owing to the benefits they receive from the Italian fiscal system under which citizens may opt to devolve part of their income tax payments to the church. Fr Righi, also in his 70s, attended the same seminary school as Mr Cascioli at Bagnoregio.
Mr Cascioli has claimed in a book that the Church “constructed” Christ on the personality of John of Gamala, a 1st-century Jew who fought against the Roman army. Luigi Cascioli, a retired agronomist in his 70s, filed his lawsuit in September 2002 against Don Enrico Righi, parish priest of the church of San Bonaventura, near Viterbo, accusing the cleric of “tricking” the faithful when he wrote in a parish newspaper that archaeologists and biographers had proven that Jesus was a historical figure, born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Tried last year, he is serving a life sentence.Danielle Demetriou. A militant atheist’s three-year legal battle to prove Jesus Christ never existed is to climax this month with a court case in a sleepy hilltown north of Rome against the Catholic church for allegedly “abusing popular belief”. Several of his female victims had relationships with him, and one even had two children by him. His eight victims were given a series of bizarre missions, subjected to years of poverty in “safe houses” and conned out of more than £600,000.

But the WCC is also an Olympic hothouse, drawing talented young cyclists from developing countries. So, on its indoor velodrome or outdoor BMX track are local recreational cyclists, kids and their parents. The WCC itself, however, is an eye-catching attempt to cultivate the sport at a grass-roots level. So ended a ride that Fred told me the centre’s best young cyclists used as a morning warm-up…The UCI department that spearheads the battle against performance-enhancing drugs in the upper echelons of the sport is housed at the WCC, and happy to discuss its campaign with visitors. Peter and Fred hunched over their handlebars and said something about 18 gears being quite enough.I toiled in their wake. We stopped once for a puncture (Fred), once for biscuits and Red Bull (me) and once for a water break (all of us), before we reached the ride’s climax, Ch?au d’Oex.

Snow-streaked peaks and plunging gorges were picturesque distractions, but after five-and-a-half hours and 135km on a saddle barely worth the name, I was glad to see the lines of the WCC’s prow-like entrance hove into view. Climbing a sharp incline, I flapped at my gear levers and wondered where the hell the easiest gears were Its “third ring”? It had none. Soon Fred, Peter and I were wheeling along towards Montreux.According to Peter, the sort of cyclist who would enjoy Velo Classic Tours’ WCC trip is “an enthusiast with some amateur race experience, somebody who is after an adventure but realistic about their fitness” He wasn’t kidding. Then Peter Easton of the New York-based Velo Classic Tours approached the WCC and found it was only too keen to throw its doors open to him and his clients.Velo Classic Tours’ 10-day Swiss Alps itinerary takes in sweeping rides along the shoreline of the Lake of Geneva, and long, 120km-plus rides up to the high-mountain resort towns of Verbier and Chamonix, over the French border.

You can soak in the bath, sweat in the sauna, lie by the pool – and drink in the bar.Pinara Hotel, 93 Prospect Mira, Bishkek (00 996 312 542 349)Adriatico RestaurantCelebrate your return to urban life by tucking into a European feast. Pull up a chair at the Adriatico Restaurant which offers a range of traditional Italian dishes – quite a contrast to the indigenous Kyrgyz pictures on the walls. Noorgul has five traditional yurts, each capable of sleeping six to eight on carpets on the floor Meals can also be provided. For a small sum, Noorgul will invite neighbouring horsemen for an evening game of ‘kokboru’, a national sport involving two mounted teams fighting for possession of a goat’s carcass.Pinara HotelAfter 10 days of sleeping in tents and washing in streams, you may feel you have earned a taste of luxury when you arrive back in the capital.

But both effort and money are worth it.Noorgul’s Yurt CampStay with a shepherdess on the shores of Lake Sol Kul. The water has been piped into an indoor concrete bath for four – at a squeeze – but first you will have to cool it down with cold water from the river Ask the caretaker for buckets and expect to pay 30p a head. Issyk Kul Stud Farm, Cholpon-AtaJyluu Suu JacuzziKyrgyzstan is rich in natural hot springs, and the ones beside the Jyluu Suu campsite are particularly welcome after a long day in the saddle. The horses are primarily trotters, partly thoroughbred and trained for races up to 25 miles long. The best ones are held in neighbouring Kazakhstan, where the glittering prizes can include normally unattainable 4x4s.

For more details, call 00 996 3947 91320Issyk Kul Stud FarmKnown as State Stud Farm No 54 in the Soviet era, but now a privately owned all-purpose breeding and training stable. One of the great attractions here is feasting on his wife’s cooking over a vodka toast or three. After you’ve watched a demonstration of his skills, stay for the night in his traditional Kyrgyz home near Lake Issyk Kul. The shop specialises in Central Asian books in English, French, Spanish and German.Fat Boys, 104 Chui Prospect, BishkekEagle hunting with Sogan BaiOne of the last of the traditional eagle hunters, 66-year-old Sogan Bai has performed for Boris Yeltsin, among other famous names.

The ferry waived their charge for Lucy, so we bounced, cheaply and happily, across smooth waters to the two Perhentian Islands.I had no idea where we were going to stay but my plan was to head for Long Beach, which seemed, on the map, to have the greatest concentration of lodges, and stroll along the shore to see which was best. More probably, it could be explained simply by the fact that the Perhentian Islands are such a nice place to be: the pellucid waters of the South China Sea fringing two jungled islands, ringed by beaches with small, friendly lodges hidden in the trees. But as 20-month-old Wilf paddled in the shallows and Lucy, six, chatted manically to the barman from her perch in a threadbare hammock, I was feeling too smugly settled to share Mr Wu’s concern.
The sudden rush to the Perhentians might have been caused by trouble in Thailand, struggling with an election a few miles to the north. What about the people without a reservation?”

Presumably, they’d have to take a speedboat back to mainland Malaysia.

At Colours Bar, our waiter, Mr Wu, was most disturbed “Every room on the island is taken,” he tutted “It’s never happened before. Little wonder football will be the sole focus of attention next month in Terevinto as the rest of the planet does battle in Germany.. “That totally changed our lives,” beams Elvio Rivero, one of the village elders. “It meant that we could find out the football results from Bolivia and the rest of the world the same day!”

Bolivia are not in the World Cup but most of their geographical neighbours – Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Ecuador – are. Then five years ago, telephone lines gave the 600 inhabitants of this clearing in the Bolivian plains (or chaco) an umbilical cord to the outside world.

Barely a decade ago, a revolution came to the Bolivian village of Terevinto It was the day the isolated township got electricity. Set around a courtyard, in a characterful 18th-century building, it has plenty of shady, flower-filled terraces, and its handful of simple but comfortable rooms are decorated with antique furniture Doubles start at $45 (£26) per night with breakfast.. Sucre is mercifully free of chain hotels and this is one of its most charming places to stay. Tours last four hours with stops for photos and posing at cafes, and include a circuit of the city that takes in the principal locations from the 1953 movie. Tours cost from €186 (£100) per person for four hours, chauffeured by an English-speaking guide Contact: happyrent .. Breakfast on the terrace

08.00: Wake up in El Hostal de Su Merced (00 591 4 644 2706; desumerced ), Azurduy Street 16, right in the heart of the city.

The woman he married, a Korean acupuncturist named Maria Sung, is accusing the Vatican of holding him against his will.Ms Sung, 41, also insists that her husband has been coerced by the Pope and his officials into turning his back on the marriage and embracing the church again. She returned to pray in St Peter’s Square yesterday on the second day of a hunger strike. She has, meanwhile, indicated she may be pregnant.The saga began with Archbishop Milingo’s participation in the wedding. It took place in a New York hotel and was presided over by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the controversial head of the Unification church and the Family Federation for World Peace.

The marriage scandalised the Vatican and the entire Catholic Church.The letter released yesterday appeared to be in the archbishop’s handwriting. Signed “Milingo”, it said he will recommit his life “in the Catholic church with all my heart, renounce my living together with Maria Sung and my relationship with the Rev [Sun Myung] Moon and the Family Federation for World Peace”.There is no end in sight to the duelling between the Vatican on one side and Ms Sung, supported by officials of the Unification church, on the other. Ms Sung has said she will persist with her hunger strike until she is reunited with Archbishop Milingo. “I’m continuing my fasting condition until I see him,” she said.The Rev Phillip Schanker, who is a spokesman for Mr Moon, cast doubt on the letter, a typewritten version of which was released by the Vatican on Tuesday.

He suggested it had been written “under duress” by the archbishop. “We’ll respect whatever he wants, but we’re not convinced this is what he wants,” he said. “Let him stand up in front of the world and talk to the world.”Archbishop Milingo was forced to resign as Archbishop of Lusaka in 1983 for his holding non-conformist views and was given a post inside the Vatican. He has for years complained that the rule of celibacy was poisoning the Catholic priesthood. He travelled to Rome to explain himself to the Pope last week after the Vatican threatened to excommunicate him if he did not break from his new wife by 20 August.. Less than four hours before he was to be put to death by lethal injection, a court in Texas halted the controversial execution of Napoleon Beazley last night.