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Richard Brooks, First Post.co.uk
As global food shortages devastate some of the world's poorest countries, a British government-owned international development fund set up 60 years ago this month stands accused of deserting them.
CDC, formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation, was established by Clement Attlee's post-war government in the same year as the National Health Service and in the same spirit of social regeneration. But it passes its landmark anniversary disfigured by 11 years of transformation under New Labour ¬ for which the world's poor are paying the price.
Originally formed to "undertake individual productive projects likely to increase the wealth of the colonies themselves", CDC soon established a reputation as an effective developer of businesses which, in awkward parts of the world and not spectacularly, have not served the ordinary people.