"For AIDS in Afghanistan, is it?"

Seems not everyone got the Live 8 memo. Keep on rocking, Marty Gladwell of Whitby, Ontario. Oh my. Further evidence that Simon Jenkins in the Sunday Times probably has the definitive word on the event:

But if Geldof and his friends want to play politics, showing demagogic muscle means nothing. His revellers must join in the democratic debate and engage with a complex argument. The exploitation of “just in time” protest is no alternative to formal democracy. A Live 8 ticket is not a vote. Make poverty history is a cliché, not a programme...

What we see is another chapter in an old story, glibness triumphing over thought and the rich yearning for excuses to impose their values on the poor. We know we cannot “make poverty history”. This week we are trying to make it geography. Perhaps, just for once, we should make it economics.

Read the whole thing. When we saw Mandela at Trafalgar Square back in February, I quoted Sir Bob's call for the "politics of responsibility". Awareness is only the first step - let's hope this campaign is not seen in 20 years as a mere flash in the pan. To the difficult task of sustained commitment to the cause...