2012; The Independent & Aid

Looking at the vote tallies in the 4 rounds of voting, I think I can understand why someone on telly (Coe?) said that he would very much prefer London to be pit against Paris rather than Madrid in the last round. Rather doubt voters for Paris in the 3rd round would seriously consider London in the 4th round.

Vote Tally:

First round
London 22 Paris 21 Madrid 20 New York 19 Moscow 15 (eliminated)

Second round
Madrid 32 London 27 Paris 25 New York 16 (eliminated)

Third round
London 39 Paris 33 Madrid 31 (eliminated)

Fourth round
London 54 Paris 50 (eliminated)

Trafalgar Square had a lovely celebration as the victorious result came in. Loads of streamers, flags, even a five plane Olympic colours fly-past. woohoo!!! Very glad to have gone there for a peek. :p

2012. Gosh, I will be 30 by then. Old man liao. Or just mature man. :p

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And now... the Independent newspaper. I quite like it, not least because it is of a printed format convenient enough to be read in the little boy's room. However, it has been rather annoying of late, with its crusades to do this, that and the other, e.g. the electoral reform, international aid to Africa, etc. It's not the crusades that irritate me. On the contrary, there are very strong cases for its chosen agenda. However, its presentations and perhaps interpretations of the facts and evidence leaves much to be desired. Take today's headlines for example:

Mozambique: The nation that proves aid works

After years of civil war, floods and Marxist misrule, Mozambique now has soaring growth, falling poverty and rising literacy. Its story should inspire the G8 leaders

Yes, it is true that Mozambique is doing very much better than many of the other African nations. It is most probably true that aid has helped Mozambique. However, it is by no means clear that it is aid, and not the absence of 'civil war, floods and Marxist misrule' in the present day that is the cause of Mozambique's success story.

Also, how can one nation show that aid works in all cases?

Surely, Mozambique: the nation that shows that aid can work would be more appropriate.

Or am I just being pedantic and am missing the point? :P