Bush has agreed to more aid after chats with Tony Blair. Apparently they are good friends and Bush thinks the world of Tony. Surely, many are saying, he owes a favour to Tony after all his unflinching support over Iraq which has resulted in great MP’s like Stephen Twigg and many councillor losing their jobs.

Obviously Bush does not value Tony’s ideas as much as he, or the rest of us, would have liked. This offer from Bush is better than nothing, but surely that is all it is.

This great new deal amounts to £5 per head in a couple of countries and it still means the greatolel US of A gives less than 0.2% of its GNP as AID. The average American spends over $20 per year inMcDonald’ss – this literally makes me feel sick.

The richest country in the world, or rather the leader of the richest country in the world says they cannot afford more. How lamely ridiculous is that!!!

This site draws interesting thoughts from the US public:

Public perceptions reflect support for higher levels of aid. When asked what percentage of the federal budget they think goes to foreign aid, Americans’ median estimate is 25% of the budget, more than 25 times the actual level. Only 2% of Americans give a correct estimate of 1%off the budget or less. When asked how much of the budget should go to foreign aid, the median response is 10%. Only 13% of Americans believe that the percentage should be 1% or less. Over 60% of Americans believe that contributing 0.7% of national income to meet the Millennium Development Goals is the right thing to do.

Maybe Bush should listen to his people! But then he does not need to be re-eleceted anymore!