In a world economy worth trillions, the funds necessary to feed the hungry are truly small. So why aren’t we doing it?
So here we are. The pound has slumped and Britain has the lowest growth and highest inflation in the G7. Manufacturing output has stalled and the financial markets are advising that sterling should be treated as an “emerging market” currency. The prime minister has broken the law and the government will reportedly soon publish a bill that could break international law in our name. You can only imagine the enormous respect and influence that Boris Johnson will carry into the room when G7 leaders meet in Germany. If they don’t burst out laughing at the sight of our threadbare prime minister it will only be because of decent diplomatic manners.
Yet, we’re not starving. And I mean literally starving. We’re struggling, or eating badly, but we’re not dying from hunger because there isn’t a single grain of wheat to put into a child’s distended, empty stomach. We haven’t got it easy by any means, and perhaps we can be forgiven for being so absorbed by our own cost of living crisis, which is only just beginning to bite. But when our economy rebounds, which it will undoubtedly eventually do, the poorest of our world will already be dead.
Bob Geldof is chairman of the Band Aid Trust and a supporter of the Hungry for Action campaign
