Post your thoughts/ideas/musings on global poverty and climate change for Policywonk - Mumsnet's blogger at the G20 summit...

Or you could just ask about Aretha's hat

Apparently the Smithsonian Museum asked for Michelle Obama's dress, and the children's dresses; to have on display for historical purposes.

And Aretha Franklin was asked for her hat. Rumor has it that she said, 'no' on the basis that she, as an African/American wanted to look at that hat every day as it was a reminder of how far the African/American people have progressed...

Hello Bramshott and thanks

I must admit I've stared at that list of blogger categories and I can't imagine which one I'm supposed to fall into. I'm waiting to find out who the others are so that I can locate myself a bit more. Because it's all about meeeeee

Crikey ILove, you startled me there

Good point about what he said in the inaugural address - could definitely work that one in.

Right then Rhubarb - determined to cause an international incident as ever

My understanding of the Zimbabwe situation is that it has been firmly handed to the African nations to deal with. Handily, South Africa and the African Union will both be represented at the Summit, so if we get some access to them we can ask them something about it. Basically, Mugabe is just about power-sharing with the MDC now, but obviously the country is falling apart and everyone's waiting for Mugabe to die, I think.

Anyway, what question do you think we should ask?

China - quite agree with you in principle. I think the answer to 'What are they going to do about it' would probably be 'Our economy is growing like a runaway train and all of these problems will be solved in the medium-to-long term'.

If you can get me some links to specific info. about the orphanages (oh God that's going to be upsetting isn't it) then maybe that would be a good one?

Policy, I think the question should go something like this:

"President Obama stated in his inaugural address that the American way of life won't be changed. Was this in reference to: a) terrorism b) the environment c) his choice of puppies in the White House "

Also, is it right that countries such as Australia per the Kyoto Protocol, have increased their carbon emissions as a target, or should countries attempt to reduce as a target?

Lastly, should environmental crimes be prosecuted as criminal?

Habb will look at that COPD link

MT - animal dung is a common fuel for indoor cooking fires in developing countries and its effects on air quality are particularly awful (edited an article about it once and it's stuck in my head ever since).

Hello wilf. Yes, absolutely.

'Mr Brown, do you agree with mumsnetters that we should tax the rich until the pips squeak?'

Hi oops and thanks for the vote of confidence

I know the article you mean - it was GlaxoSmithKline. You're right, haven't heard anything since.

Interesting issue, but again, how to address it at governmental level? Maybe governments should give incentives to drug companies to follow suit?

What question would we ask?

Hi Maiakins

Good point about ring-fencing funds for education/health

Is it really the case that we just hand over the money to governments with no say in how it's spent? Doesn't quite a lot go to development orgs/NGOs on the ground?

Would you say that more should be done to ensure that the funds go where they're suppose to go?

This is an interesting issue - on the one hand, lots of people are rightly concerned about rampant corruption/kleptocracies. On the other hand, it's infantilising to say 'here's some cash, but we're going to tell you exactly how to spend every last penny of it.'

I don't know much about this issue though so would love any insights or more informed opinions.

100x I've been waiting for someone to mention Nestle - you're the first!

As I understand it, the difficulty lies in getting the Code enforced. It's not law in most countries (although it is backed up by legislation in the UK). Campaigners seem to be targeting the WHO and UNICEF to enforce it.

I can't quite see how we would shoehorn this one in to a governmental conference, though I'm open to suggestions.

ILove

As far as I can make out, there's no one big successor to Kyoto: there's just an ongoing process of negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. There seems to be a meeting every year. The next big one will be in Copenhagen in December.

I guess the simple question to ask of the US would be: are there any plans to ratify the Kyoto Treaty? (The US has signed it but never ratified it.)

The US has always insisted that it will accept binding targets only when such targets are also applied to developing nations, and particularly to China. Obama seems to have said that he will accept binding targets, but I'm not sure whether that's conditional on China having binding targets too. Maybe that's what we need to ask?

Wow, MT. I gotta say that seems like an eccentric post to me. I could argue with you about it all night but this isn't about what I think I guess

So let's throw it open to the board! Yes I know I sound like David Brent. If there are other people on here who mistrust the information we're being given about climate change, and they want to post here to let me know about it, then we'll try to come up with something.

Your point about resource distribution is interesting, but you know there's no one central body that is directing resources to deal with climate change. There are just individual governments, local and national, making a bloody big hash of things. You say conspiracy, I say cock-up.

The suggestion about having a central source of unspun information... I just don't see how that would work. I don't believe it's possible to present information in an entirely bias-free way.

Erm, sorry if this reads like pissing on your chips. It is genuinely interesting to read other points of view.

oregonian

good list

FGM. Fuck. What should we ask? Does it take place at a significant level in any of the delegate countries? I'm guessing not but could be wrong.

If not, we're up against a dreaded 'cultural' issue.

What action should a civilised government take on FGM?

Export processing zones: that sounds very interesting. I know nothing about it. Could you post some sort of digest and an idea of what action you think ought to be taken?

'They've all gone, Percy.'

beans
comb-overs
bags
Bob Geldof's number
Argentinian President's views on the Boden spring/summer catalogue (is the new Fun Skirt just too much fun?)

SO

(in an effort to break up my enormo-post)

what are we pushing for?

Assuming we get some sort of access to an American at some point, are we going to ask them what sort of budgetary commitment they would be prepared to make? (Of course we'll get fobbed off, but...)

And how such funding should be ring-fenced?

I'm going to ask MNHQ what they think about contacting Sarah Brown - seems only fair as we'd be using the MN brand.

ArcticLemming what do you think? What should we ask for?

In a way, the more specific our goal, themore likely we are to make progress - yes?

Do you know, I did actually spend some time today wondering what bag to take.

Still stuck on MHN. Lots of stuff on that White Ribbon site.

There's a very good fact sheet here from a US campaign called 'Mothers Day Every Day'.

*A woman dies from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes every minute of every day
*Childbirth is the leading killer of young women worldwide
*Infants of mothers who do not survive the delivery are more likely to die within two years
*When a mother dies, enrolment in school for younger children is delayed and older children often leave school to support their family.
*Children without a mother are less likely to be immunized, and are more likely to suffer from malnutrition and stunted growth. The implications for girls tend to be even greater.

Millennium Development Goal #5 is to reduce maternal mortality rates by 75 per cent by 2015. And guess what? It's the MDG that has seen the least progress in the last decade. Global maternal mortality decreased by less than 1 per cent between 1990 and 2005.

The interventions that are needed are relatively low-tech and inexpensive: trained birth attendants/midwives at the local level, and obstetric care for emergencies. In Sri Lanka, maternal mortality was halved within one decade by introducing such measures.

Basically, from what I can make out, DFID has a fairly good record in this area; the country that needs to take a big lead is (inevitably) the USA. Its funding for maternal health programmes has consistently declined.

Essentially, the aim is to secure $3.9 billion per year for the next ten years (based on a World Health Organization estimate). This would enable significant progress towards providing universal access to maternal and newborn care.

And eat beans beforehand. Then you can do really smelly farts and look disapprovingly at the bigwigs, shaking your head.

Policywonk: Remember its the first day of spring tomorrow so take your flask and all of your notes in your summer bag.

The government says it plans to slash carbon use by 80% over the next, whatever it is. FAB! How brave.

BUT it's all talk. How can a new coal fired station at Kingsnorth and the expansion of our airways possibly fit in to such a claim?

Ask him if he has seen the film The Age Of Stupid and whether he intends to see it.

You are officially a delegate -- ask!

Oh, and be sure and ask her if it annoys her when he does that thing when he pokes his tongue in his mouth when he finishes a sentence...

Right

I've started collating stuff posted on this thread under various headings.

Looking into maternal and newborn health (MHN: welcome to abbreviation city) - if you look at the link HelenMNHQ posted last night, it turns out that Sarah Brown is Global Patron of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood

That could work in our favour, right? Gordy is a decent sort when it comes to development issues, and the press likes Sarah (a bit)

Wonder whether we could persuade her to meet us?

Stop me if I seem to be getting maniacal and swivel-eyed.

Cristina (president of Argentina) is quite glamorous and should be in London for the G20 if the blog is going to include a fashion section.

Do you get a chance to ask questions? I would probably second suggestions to choose quite simple issues - maybe related to maternal and child health (ArcticLemmings suggestion about maternal mortality or obstetric fistula sound pretty good to me) that will be relevant for all the countries participating.

Cervical cancer screening is another area that might get some interesting responses from different perspectives.

Good luck PW.

I feel so cynical about it all. Same old same old. Can you try to give us a feel of hmm what do I want to say.. of whether you gain any sense of hope, rather than a lot of suits talking the talk without much intention of walking the walk.

Also -- to what degree it's possible for a bystander to pick up of deep background corporate lobbying.. for example when it comes to GM food and so on.

I will be very interested in the vibes you get yourself ..so much of the rest of it will be in the public domain.

Thank you my dear.

Seconding Rhubarb's excellent post about China.