The G8 have betrayed the world's poor

Two years ago at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, the G8 nations supposedly took a historic step towards helping the developing world. In the face of unprecedented public protests demanding that they make poverty history, they promised to boost aid by US$50 billion. So, what have they done to keep that promise?

Nothing.

Actually, worse than nothing. According to figures from the OECD, aid spending fell in real terms by 5.1% - the first fall since 1997. A lot has been done on debt relief, but this has come at the expense of real aid spending. So much for the G8's promises...