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THE opening day of the UN World Food Summit, dedicated to combating global hunger, was marked yesterday by a sumptuous lunch for the 3,000 delegates served by 170 Italian waiters.

The summit leaders were offered foie gras, lobster, and goose stuffed with olives. followed by fruit compote.

The Rome lunch was a symbol, for Western leaders at least, of the extravagant and bloated bureaucracies that the aid business has created, and went some way towards explaining why so few of them were in attendance yesterday.

storyhere from The Times.

Posted: 13-06-2002 21:28 Post subject:

I feel angry about this whole affair, although I'm not exactly sure why, or at whom, and I sure as hell don't know what to do about it.

So I'll let off steam with a cheap joke

"Let them eat concrete!" (See Koffi Annan's remark.)

Posted: 13-06-2002 22:31 Post subject:

Sad to see that the West didn't see fit to send national leaders to such a vital summit. They always manage to turn up for the big economic conferences, so why not a meeting where something was to be decided regarding world hunger? And what about there refusal to formally adopt the right to food as a basic human right? The talked about 'creating the condtions in which a right to food could be recoginsed' i.e. 'No.' Surely the right to food is part of the accepted right to life?

If the Western leaders had wanted to get publicity they could have agreed to live on the diet of a Third World peasant for a day. Or stopped selling guns and started sending a realistic amount of aid.

Mad

Posted: 13-06-2002 22:34 Post subject:

Bush and Blair, and other Western leaders were not there - only leaders (mostly) of third world countries.

So it was the latter who were sticking their snouts in this little trough (and who were also being silently accused of siphoning off Food Aid into their own pockets).

Not sure if western leaders being there would have helped or not.

"We are all guilty!" Dr. Heinz Kiosk

Posted: 13-06-2002 23:44 Post subject:

Would it have been less controversial if fish and chips had been served, this would still seem like top notch grub to a starving person.

Posted: 14-06-2002 06:48 Post subject:

The contents of most of our fridges would shock any starving person. So would our regular trips to the supermarket. As regular consumers, we're part of the problem. Food production and distribution being aimed at us, and not the starving people discussed at the meeting. All 800 million of them.

Maybe the meal does sound extravagant, but it's pretty similar to the food all these bigwigs are used to eating on their round of international conferences and talks on all sorts of issues. The aid agencies may well bear some responsibility, but they also do some great work, and if it wasn't for them there would be a great deal more suffering in the world.

Nice to know that our government has just sold a really expensive BAE air traffic system to Tanzania - when one much cheaper would have worked just as well. Perhaps Tony didn't show because he knew he would be openly criticised for ripping off one of the poorer nations. Or there were no arms deals to be made this week.

Posted: 15-06-2002 00:02 Post subject:

I seem to recall that the World Wildlife Fund bigwigs once sat down to a
lunch which began with real turtle soup.

Probably a brace of osprey for mains. Surprised

Posted: 15-06-2002 01:43 Post subject:

Posted: 15-10-2002 00:03 Post subject: 69 PROTESTS BUT SEX SHOP LICENCE IS SAFE

Source

Posted: 15-10-2002 00:08 Post subject:

69 letters, whos kidding who?

Posted: 15-10-2002 03:10 Post subject:

Does a town with a good cattle market need a sex shop? :p

Posted: 16-10-2002 01:52 Post subject: I'll have fives quids worth please!

Source

Posted: 18-10-2002 00:30 Post subject:

Here in Sheffield (which is, of course, the Sex City) we have a sex shop owned by a female entrepeneur, who is also an official Lib Dem candidate, campaigng for 16 year olds' right to watch hardcore porn.

Her name is Julia Gash.