Little Things Mean A Lot

 
Eight years after a nipple rocked America, a finger has had the same effect. When MIA raised her middle digit during the half-time show at the Super Bowl, 114 million people passed out in shock. Or so the broadcaster NBC would have us believe. “Totally inappropriate,” they fumed.

This is probably not true. Of those who noticed, some may have celebrated MIA as a situationist art-rock desperado bridling against convention. Others may have yawned and reached for another beer.

The thing about getting hung up on a fleeting moment or remark and using it to paint a wider picture is that it provides a blunt rendering.

Take Pranab Mukherjee. When the Indian finance minister appeared to snub the annual £280m in development money that Britain sends India by labelling it a “peanut” in the nation’s budget, he gave a green light to those in this country whose hackles rise at the very thought of reaching a hand up to those abroad. But the truth is more complex.

Mukherjee made the remark last August. The exact context is not clear, though a sense of national pride can’t be ruled out. Mukherjee refused a £1bn loan from the IMF in 1984. He comes from a tradition of proud self-determination – and that is even before we get tied up in issues of aid for trade.

International development minister Alan Duncan appeared on Question Time just over a week ago and made an impassioned defence of international development aid. It’s one per cent of our national spend and is, he said, the right thing to do. So, in the light of the Mukherjee developments, we invited Duncan to restate his position on the positive effects of a hand up. It’s a compelling argument, which can be read in this week's magazine. 

Also in the magazine - and gracing the cover - is Paul McCartney. In the midst of a great piece in which he gives his 16-year-old self some advice, he reveals details of a dream of digging for gold that he and John Lennon shared in the days when The Beatles were born. It’s the sort of revelation that’ll give you goosebumps as you read.