[Nottingham] Thunderbird problem

[N Black]

Hi Folks,

After using Thunderbird for a couple of months recent attempts to open
it have failed.  Investigation shows:
			....
$ thunderbird --verbose
INFO  -> [[ ... using verbose mode ... ]]
DEBUG -> Found folder '/home/xxxx/.icedove'.
DEBUG -> Found folder '/home/xxxx/.thunderbird'.
DEBUG -> There are already the folders or symlinks
'/home/xxxx/.thunderbird' and '/home/xxxx/.icedove' 
DEBUG -> which not pointing to each other, will do nothing as don't
know which folder to use. 
DEBUG -> Please investigate by yourself! Maybe you will find
additional information in
'/usr/share/doc/thunderbird/README.Debian.gz'.

 /usr/bin/thunderbird: [profile migration] Couldn't
migrate Icedove into Thunderbird profile due existing or symlinked
folder '/home/xxxx/.thunderbird

An error happened while
trying to migrate the old Icedove profile folder
'/home/xxxx/.icedove'. 
INFO  -> Please take a look into the syslog
file!
				....

There is also information in https://wiki.debian.org/Thunderbird
although I don't know what to do with it.  Can anyone suggest EXACTLY
how I can restore activity?

At present I'm using Claws as an alternative but prefer the look of
Thunderbird and in any case don't like to leave problems unresolved.

Any polite suggestions?

Cheers

Nigel