No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again. It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia's (and Bob Geldof's) famous Feed The World campaign, and in that time Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million to 78 million today.

So why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn't count.

One is my conscience, and the other is the picture, yet again, of another wide-eyed child, yet again, gazing, yet again, at the camera, which yet again, captures the tragedy of . . .

Finally someone who dares to speak the truth about the failure of the Western aid to magically save the third world from its own internal problems. Governmental corruption, witchcraft, and mass poverty is not our problem. And if we even think about actually helping out, we need to help Africa reduce its overpopulation, or else it's like giving away food to people with open bellies. In general, foreign aid is completely ineffective. Kevin Myers is right: stop pretending to be important because you donate money to the poor. You're just another self-pretentious idiot who try to enhance your image.

Charity multiplies misery.