It seems our world leaders have been very busy of late. According to an Associated Press reporter, “at a luncheon devoted to solving the world food crisis, World Bank President Robert Zoellick painted a fairly grim scenario.”

How self-sacrificing of them to devote an entire lunch to discussing the unfortunate situation of hundreds of thousands of people who are dying of starvation daily. It was probably a bit annoying for them to have to talk while trying to get through mouthfuls of smoked salmon and caviar.

A couple of weeks ago Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, appealed to the consumers of the world to stop being so wasteful with food because, he says, over 4.1 million tonnes of food ends up in the bin.

That was very good advice. It’s quite beneficial then that he and the other G8 leaders are exempted from the crisis, we certainly wouldn’t want them to go hungry.

 At the G8 summit in Japan, Brown and friends wined and dined on a six-course lunch and an absurd 18-course dinner including milk-fed lamb and sea-urchin, complemented by wine and champagne flown in from Europe. This meal was probably taking place around the same time that Fanta Lingani, a mother to 23 dependants in Burkina Faso, went to bed having had one meal of corn mush with dried fish seasoned with tree leaves. 

But I suppose it’s okay, what is a bit of hypocrisy in global politics anyway?