DROP THE DEBT
The continuing vision of the Jubilee Debt Campaign is a world in which the people of the poorest countries are liberated from the crushing burden of debt, and in which the future financial arrangements between rich and poor nations are founded on fairness, accountability and transparency.

Hasn't all poor country debt been cancelled through the campaign in 2000?
No. Only about 15% of the $300 bn plus (1bn = 1 billion = 1000 million) of unpayable debt owed by the 52 poorest countries has been agreed for cancellation (i.e. $50-60 bn). Even less than that has been actually delivered to date.

What more can the UK do?
The promise to cancel 100% of bilateral debts (i.e. those owed to the UK) is welcome, so far as this has actually occurred. But the biggest slice of the debt owed by poor countries is to the so-called multilateral institutions, primarily the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Together with other rich nations, the UK has a controlling role on these two institutions, and hasn't gone nearly far enough to ensure that they offer deeper and faster debt cancellation.

Doesn't Corruption make debt Cancellation Pointless?
Poor countries didn't invent corruption. Nevertheless it's true that this is a serious issue. The key here is to ensure that debt cancellation occurs in a transparent way. Where this has happened - e.g. in Uganda - grassroots organisations have been able to monitor the process to ensure that money from debt relief is spent on basic services for the poor.

Catch up!
Thank goodness for the holidays - at last I can now get caught up with so much stuff! I've managed to get round to reading a lot of international stuff which I've wanted to do for ages - some of which I'll be sharing with you this week....... and yesterday I caught up with two great movies Oceans Eleven & The Bourne Identity. Does that show you how behind my movie viewing is or what! Both movies confirmed to me that Matt Damon is in my top 5 actors.

House Update
Managed to get the bathroom painted (Thanks Dad), the kitchen painted (Thanks Dad) the first coat of the ceiling in the bedroom done (Thanks Dad) and the living room totally stripped of wallpaper (Thanks to Jane & myself). I once called my dad "Wee Iron Man Rob" after yesterday I think we'll call him "Wee Iron Man With Heck Of Big ENGINE Rob!!"

A word of appreciation:- For fitness, working on the house is so much easier with it!