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More on Susan Sarandon (and Fred Thompson) from the WashPost:

(W)e were distressed to learn yesterday that the United Way of Tampa Bay has disinvited her from a fundraising and training event because of her outspoken criticism of President Bush's war on Saddam Hussein.

Indeed -- after several large donors complained about Sarandon's keynote role at an April 11 lunch capping a session to encourage women to volunteer in charities -- United Way officials just scrapped the whole thing.

"United Way of Tampa Bay's intent is to unify the diversity of thought that brings the community together," Marketing Vice President Judy Quinlan said yesterday from Florida, where Sarandon's Republican, Bush-supporting mom, Lenora Tomalin, also lives. [I thought UW's intent was to raise money for worthy charitable organizations. Oh well.] "Through circumstances beyond our control, this event began to divide our community. The prudent course of action is to cancel."

But now there's real trouble. At the St. Petersburg Times, which is the lead corporate sponsor of the event, Executive Vice President Marty Petty, until yesterday the chairman of the 2003 United Way campaign, quit the charity's board in protest. And Petty's boss, St. Petersburg Times Chairman Andrew Barnes -- who had arranged for the paper to pay Sarandon's $20,000 appearance fee plus an extra $25,000 for the United Way -- is enraged at the group's leaders.

"It makes me so mad -- this is just way over the line," Barnes told us, noting that Sarandon agreed to appear after being invited on behalf of the Times by her brother, Times Outdoors Editor Terry Tomalin. "This really sticks in my gorge."

Barnes added that he has backed the United Way through thick and thin, especially when the group's national leadership was embroiled in a damaging financial scandal years ago. "My goodness, I must have made 17 speeches apologizing for that. Those jerks!"

Quinlan declined to respond to Barnes's insults. "Everyone is entitled to his opinion," she said. "Everyone has freedom of speech and freedom of choice." Except maybe Susan Sarandon.

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• Our congratulations to former Senate Republican staffer Jeri Thompson, 35, and her new husband, Fred Dalton Thompson, as the 60-year-old former Tennessee senator is billed on NBC's "Law & Order," on which he plays the Manhattan district attorney. We hear that the couple, who married in June, are expecting their first child on Sept. 22.

PHOTOS UP IN FLAMES
It is heartbreaking to watch soldiers burning pictures of their own children and letters from loved ones, writes pool reporter Martin Dillon.

Army rules force them to destroy any personal items which may give interrogators an advantage if they are captured, says Dillon, of the Manchester Evening News, who is with the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery in Iraq.

When mail arrives there is a sense of elation among the men.

But this is soon tinged with sadness as they realise the precious messages and photos from home must be incinerated.

The only details carried by the troops are identification card, ID discs, a medical card and dollars. But all the men accept it as part of being a soldier in a war zone.

This is the reality of warfare - men stripped of their private lives and day-to-day comfort. But the mail also brings parcels of food, sweets, chocolates and toiletries to cheer up the soldiers.

'Gutted'

Sgt Ewan Andrews, 30, of Aldershot, Hampshire, received some photographs of his 10-month old son Sam which he had to destroy when moving gun positions.

He said: "I am absolutely gutted but it is an Army rule and you just have to do it."

Sgt Dean Foster, 34, from London, said: "It's great to receive mail and photographs but it's gut-wrenching when you have to destroy them, especially the photographs of the kids you haven't seen for ages."

Lt Rich Piercy, 23, of Goole, East Yorkshire, said: "It might seem harsh that we have to destroy the mail, but it is for a very good reason because if a soldier is captured he could be put under psychological pressure if an interrogator has personal photographs or a home address."

Bombardier Pete Bryce, 30, said: "It is such a massive morale booster and you do feel bad when you have to destroy letters and photographs. However, it just makes you more determined to get the job done quickly and come home in one piece."

Carl Bond, 23, of Aldershot, said: "It's nice to receive mail but the worst thing about it is having to burn it after you have read it."