Bread and circuses

Larry Elliott in The Guardian gets it about right - probably - on the G8 Africa outcome:

"Seismic shift or sell-out? A moment of history or yet more G8 hot air? After six months of cajoling, nagging and haggling, the Gleneagles summit finally came up with its blueprint for Africa.
Predictably, the prime minister hailed it as "real and achievable progress". Equally predictably, many of the campaign groups said it was not the giant leap that had been promised, but rather more of a faltering first step.
The nature of the agreement meant it was possible to argue that the glass was both half empty and half full. The G8 endorsed the debt forgiveness package signed by finance ministers last month; as a result, it will help a fair proportion of poor countries, but not all of them.
Rich countries also said they would provide more financial help to poor countries, increasing their development assistance by $48bn (£28bn). Forget the big number, said the development charities, and look at the small print. The $48bn won't happen until 2010 and it's needed now. What's more, most of it was in the pipeline anyway; in terms of new money, the G8 has ponied up perhaps an extra $20bn. "

The big failure was on trade, with no real progress at all. Will the G8 outcome make poverty history? No, but maybe it was never on the cards.
The official communique is here.