You still havent indicated how you keep the debt from coming back. What’s to stop them borrowing again? A worldwide ban on lending to Africa? Dont you realise that all economic growth comes from investment which is a form of lending?

Scrapping the debt will do nothing. What’s required first is for the developed world to end its protectionism; and since France and the UK can’t begin to even negotiate on the rebate/farm subsidies, what sort of naivete is it that thinks it’s easy to wave a magic wand and end the problems in Africa?

There are reasons certain countries (like certain corporations) are massively in debt. By removing the debt you do nothing about the underlying issues. The G8 should forget about Africa and fix the WTO, IMF, World Bank and UN. Until those institutions stop favouring rich nations and start enforcing their rules fairly, there’s absolutely no point waving any magic wands in Africa’s direction.

And dont even get me started on arms sales, which should be banned outright without regard to how many jobs are lost.

Cancelling debt? That should be the very last thing, not the first.

It’s one thing to write off debt, but where’s the plan to make the debts stay gone?

x million pounds goes into paying interest on these depts. No dept. No interest payments. More money for something else.

And where’s the plan to keep the cash out of the hands of corrupt leaders?

There are no guarantees, but that’s still not a reason to not go ahead with it. Scrap the dept, and then worry about corrupt leaders (and what about the millions that go into the oil companies of corrupt US presidents…?)

I wish it were simple, but it’s clearly not. It’s one thing to write off debt, but where’s the plan to make the debts stay gone? And where’s the plan to keep the cash out of the hands of corrupt leaders? African nations simply don’t have the skills to compete with developed countries. If we were going to tear down the import tariffs and all the protectionism of our markets I might have some belief that it’s just that simple, but alas getting rich nations to agree to be poorer is just not simple at all really, or it would have happened by now.

Inevitable use of Sigur-Rós, yes, although considering that Björk was the only thing Gina new about Iceland, it was surprising that her music didn’t feature in it all.

I particlularly liked that the closing credits ended with several clicks of the fingers spaced 3 seconds apart.

Call me idealistic and innocent if you like, but actually, yes, I really do think it is that simple. And no, I don’t know why those in powere haven’t done anything about it.

The film itself was delightfully moving and as you said, the stats actually went really well alongside the romance. The only thing I struggled with was the sense that it can’t really be that easy or they would surely have done it by now. I think the leaders and their governments should be granted more respect. I’m pretty sure that under the same circumstances I’d probably end up accepting a compromise just like they do.