I saw this article this morning too, and although it's good Bush is giving lots of food aid to Africa, however, he/his administration also block trade reform which holds down the economies of third world nations and stops them from developing themselves.

Giving stuff to people in need is all well and good, but they need to be able to develop and they can't do that without reform.

Yup, as the comic relief and various other adverts go, the people don't want handouts, they want the opportunity to do things for themselves. Most of the time the food aid ends up in the hands of the various barmy armies who then either horde it for themselves or sell it on to purchase weapons..

Geldof was just on the radio stressing the fact that although he was pleased by the Bush government's aid package, he fundamentally disagreed with *every* other aspect of his Administration.