varicoloured \VER-ih-kuh-lurd\, adjective:
Having a variety of colours; of various colours.

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Before I proceed with my rant, I would like to take this opportunity to wish our ex-colonial cousins over the Pond a very happy Independence Day. I heard an interesting story today; one that only confirmed and justified my rant of a couple of days ago. You may recall that I questioned the value of mega-rich popular music stars giving up some of their 'extremely valuable' time to sing a few songs once every 20 years just to to set us an example and show how much they 'care'. I may just be an old cynic, but I thought on Saturday (just as I thought way back in 1985) that many of these performers knew that their appearance at this event was as much about self-promotion as it was about ending poverty. Surprise of all surprises, it transpires that most of the Hyde Park performers have seen their record sales go through the roof - rising by hundreds, if not thousands of percent on the back of the Live 8 concerts. The ironic thing is that above the main stage in London was written, in large white electronic letters, 'We don't want your money'. No, of course you don't! I'm waiting for Madge, Robbie and all the rest of them to announce in tomorrow's papers that they are all going to donate one whole month's worth of earnings to anti-povery charities. I'm waiting for them all to close their tax avoiding bank accounts and investments, and instead deposit them in the banks, building societies, stocks and bonds that are subject to national income tax. I fully expect them all to give up their tax exiles and let the various governments use the extra tax revenue raised to help alleviate the plight of the world's poor. I am not going to hold my breath, though. Not only am I cynical about the motives of the multi-millionaire 'celebrities' calling for an end to poverty, it actually leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I cannot possibly be the only person who objects to the super-rich preaching to anyone about obligations to the poor. I have no problem with these people having the money and all the trappings of wealth and fame, I just wish that they would learn to understand that being rich doesn't make you right. Anyway, maybe they will surprise me and prove me wrong, and will donate more than just 15 minutes of their time to the cause. The first thing they can do, as one Liberal Democrat MP has apparently suggested, is donate the extra royalties they receive to anti-poverty charities. I would like to see them do more, but that would be a start.

The full story about Live 8 performers' increased record sales can be found here (Reuters UK)
This article by John Pilger pretty much sums up my feelings about Live 8 - it is well worth a read (Channel 4 News)

Last year I had a look at Ben Lawers shrouded in mist