World Loan Sharks

A beautiful morning again, and a fast 25 minute run.

But then back to the World Bank again. In a well reasoned article in the Guardian, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, convenor of the Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh, sets out the iniquities of the World Bank’s climate loan scheme, apparently devised by the UK. This scheme means that developing countries are offered costly loans to deal with the worst impacts of global warming, by the developed countries that are substantially responsible for the situation in the first place, thus driving them even further into poverty and dependence on the West. Money lenders have probably been doing this since money was invented, but the sheer scale and audacity of the World Bank's operation is breathtaking.

Meanwhile, in the interest of fair & balanced blogging, I should point out that, whilst Prince Charles’ income has increased recently, his mother’s is due to be cut by 9% over the next 3 years. She will have to struggle on with a mere £35,000,000 of UK tax payers' money (ref). Perhaps she will go on strike. After all, that's only 33,000 times the average annual income of someone in Bangladesh....