Small-Mindedness In All Its Glory
The letters page of yesterday's Metro offered a spectacular exhibition of Middle England-ness. Two correspondents wrote quite chunky letters complaining that Gordon Brown has announced an increase in borrowing while (how dare he?) also announcing an increase in the overseas development budget. This kind of attitude makes me sick. God forbid that people in Britain should have to forgo odd luxuries, or endure the horrifying hardship of overcrowded trains. No no - these clearly represent a far more serious priority to the government of a supposedly civilised country than helping millions of people who are starving, or dying in epidemics.
The price of our privilege should be an absolute moral obligation to help those less privileged. When everyone is on an equal standing, then we can start to worry about luxuries.
Two pages on from the letters page was a large feature on efforts to slow the AIDS epidemics of the developing world, which puts it all in context, I thought.