I've been very wary of Tony Blair's initiative to cancel Third World debt: I've always suspected that it really will not solve any problems, and may only compound them. But Abiola Lapite, - an erudite British man of African descent - has confirmed my suspicions.

To put it succincly, I don't believe in foreign aid, nor in loaning money to the Third World. The best way to lift people out of poverty is to drop our tariffs against the produce of poor people, especially in agricultural products. That takes a lot of political courage, considering the kind of power farmers have in Europe. So we can safely assume that it won't get done, as Europe lacks the necessary courage for that kind of action.