Humanity at its best(?)

Every night, starting from around 7 p.m. onward, I play witness to all extremes of human emotion. Why, you ask? Because my window faces an alley, and that alley is a direct route from the main road to the pub.

In the past few weeks I have seen and heard more fights, crying drunk girls, professions of love, lad banter and earth-shattering belching than I can begin to describe.

But tonight is the best, because as I write this an enterprising group of youngsters is filming an amateur rap video in my sketchy little alley. If they become famous some day, it'll be nice to say I saw them in their infancy. I'll admit the song isn't bad, but the video is full of the requisite crotch-grabbing and scowling you would expect.

***

As promised, a recap of the discussion of the international aid budget discussion at the Frontline. Most of us in attendance agreed that the panel could have used more dissenting opinions. The consensus among the panelists, all of whom work in the aid industry, was that we have to find more effective ways to deliver aid to the people who really need it rather than potentially corrupt governments.

I was surprised to hear that most panelists agreed that project-based aid is no longer the focus we should take. Instead, they said we should be focused on multilateral program aid, and on helping develop better government infrastructure to ensure stronger trade partnerships and growth. The latter portion makes complete sense, but shying away from project aid is a fairly big shift from the last 30-some years of aid philosophy. It will be interesting to see where things go.

The final thing discussed that I found really interesting, especially being from the agriculture epicenter of America, was the fairly hostile attitude toward the subsidies we give farmers in America. It's logical that the non-West is angry, since producers who could be selling cotton, grain and other goods for a minuscule price can't increase their profits because we give such high subsidies to our farmers. Still, it's hard for me to be against that when those same farmers are my family and friends. It's an interesting debate, and one I look forward to learning more about as the term goes on.

We had such beautiful weather today, I'm putting going to the park and visiting Borough Market at the top of my to-do list for the weekend :) I hope everyone had a good Wednesday and is gearing up for the weekend!

Love,
Jess