but what kind of pancake, mr president?

President Robert Mugabe has been speaking about his new, improved (?) relationship with former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. When the pair started working together, Mr Tsvangirai barely dared accept an invitation to eat with him at Harare's plush Rainbow Towers hotel, Mr Mugabe said. He told Mr Tsvangirai: "Don't worry, eat what I eat." Mr Mugabe as beefeater: now that's a new one.

A year into a power-sharing deal, the pair meet for tea and pancakes on Monday afternoons, Mr Mugabe says. What I want to know is: what kind of pancakes? Does Mr Mugabe mean the South African ones, the small bun-size patties you spread with butter and jam? They're also known as flapjacks, which -- in English cookbooks -- are something totally different: they're made with oats and syrup. Or does His Excellency mean English pancakes, the thin frying-pan size ones you toss in the air and would probably need to eat with a knife and fork? Mr Mugabe has a secret fondness for anything redolent of the British upper classes: surely he favours English pancakes. But then South African President Jacob Zuma is a good friend, more loyal -- at least on the anti-sanctions front -- that Mr Mugabe could have dared hope. Mightn't he be supporting Proudly South African pancakes?