Today Salut! is proud to offer space for a special guest slot. Step forward Joëlle Randall. Last night, I had been at badminton; she had been in tears of pity as she watched a programme about an African human tragedy. She narrowly avoided shedding tears of rage at another news item ...
Last night, I caught a programme on French television about Somalia.
A grandmother was shown travelling 60km across barren land to a hospital in a desperate attempt to save her two grandchildren, aged three and one.
Despite her efforts, both died, a consequence of malnutrition and dehydration.
To see that poor woman returning to her village with a pair of little bodies wrapped in white blankets was heartwrenching. Upon her arrival, her husband collapsed.
On the same day, I was reading the story of the English couple who have won €101m on the Euromillions lottery.
Tonight someone in France may win €27m in the domestic competition, the result of a rollover after previous results failed to produce winners.
Has the world gone mad? This is insane, immoral and simply outrageous. How can we justify such winnings when there is so much misery and poverty in the world?
Decades ago, I was equally moved by images from Biafra. Then, I somehow thought the gap between developed and underdeveloped countries would surely narrow. How naive and stupid I was! A trip to India certainly confirmed to the contrary, even though one of the richest men in the world lives there.
I realise the abolition of lotteries would not put a single scrap of food into the mouth of a starving child. I also realise some of the money generated by lotteries is diverted to good causes.
But would it not be uplifting to know that 20 per cent, or even 50 per cent, of any win above, say, €1m would go automatically to Third World charities? How we then stop conflicts causing such appalling human disasters in the first place is, of course, another question.
Maybe I should I go to Cannes and protest at the forthcoming G20 summit or join the Indignés movement.
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