Some of you may have followed the row between Bob Geldof and the BBC this week, following a radio documentary about the misuse of aid in the 1980s.  This is obviously a controversial topic and the aid agencies have joined Geldof in attacking the BBC, as you can hear. on the latest episode of the Media Show.  This is also a matter close to my heart since my PhD thesis was on the reporting of famines.

Indeed Second Years might also remember part of a lecture last term on Amartya Sen and the relationship between famine and a free press. You can read my views on the current row in today’s Independent. What is also interesting as ever is the serendipity of news. These same revelations, based on an interview with the same source were published in the Sunday Times last November in a piece by Jon Swain, but no one was bothered.