acumen \uh-KYOO-muhn; AK-yuh-muhn\, noun:
Quickness of perception or discernment; shrewdness shown by keen insight.

429.
The day of the Live8 concerts and of the Make Poverty History march through Edinburgh came and went without any involvement on my part. The concerts I could quite happily give a miss because, for as well intentioned as they may be, I am not all that impressed by a group of multimillionaire jet-setters like Sir Paul McCartney, Bono, Madonna and Robbie Williams exhorting us to extinguish debt. When I saw Robbie Williams coming on stage, doing his 'bit' for the cause, all that was running through my mind was him standing outside his record company after signing an £80 million record deal, shouting 'I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams'. Then Madonna - the woman who gave her 8 year-old daughter a credit card with a $10,000 limit to, in her own words, "teach her the value of money" - the least said about her the better. If she was willing to give up a couple of her houses, sell off a few cars and the private jet, then I might just take her concern with the plight of the world's poor a bit more seriously. We are expected to fall off of our chairs at just how much concern these mega-rich performers have for Third World poverty, and be amazed that they are prepared to give up a WHOLE AFTERNOON to 'entertain us' for nothing. Sorry. I'm not impressed by a group of rich people singing (often very badly) for 15 minutes and wearing their hearts on their sleeves in the name of the fight against poverty. I am much more impressed by the work of the ordinary man and woman who dedicate themselves to helping alleviate poverty - people who live amongst those they are trying to help - not in 5* hotels with all mod cons, air conditioning, room service, helicopter entry and exit and a small army of bodyguards to keep the 'poor' away. Pink Floyd were very good though. It was nice to actually listen to a group of performers who came together after years apart and who actually made the effort to play in tune and sing in key (and I'm not a huge Pink Floyd fan). I wanted to go to the demo in Edinburgh, but events conspired to keep me at home, where I had to help Linda look after Liam and his two sleeping-over friends. There are more marches scheduled for during the week, so I am sure that I will make it to at least one of them before the G8 summit begins in Gleneagles (which is only about 40 miles from Dundee - and which has been almost completely sealed off - so much for the world leaders being the 'representatives of the people' - but that's another rant for another day).

Last year I was keeping quiet