The gloves go on

摘要

At the recent food summit in Rome, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva donned a pair of bright-red boxing gloves labelled "Hunger Free" and waved to the cameras. They were his prize-if that is the right term-for Brazil's success in topping a league table drawn up by ActionAid, a British charity, of countries that have done most to reduce hunger*. The occasion was a stunt, of course, but had a serious purpose: to show that even the poorest places can mitigate poverty and hunger. (Brazil is not in that category, but Ghana, Vietnam and Malawi-which came third, fourth and fifth-are.)