phorbesie

:mad: G8 summit: Gordon Brown has eight-course dinner before food crisis talks By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor in Hokkaido, Japan Last updated: 2:03 AM BST 08/07/2008 Gordon Brown and his fellow world leaders have sparked outrage after it was disclosed they enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit where the global food crisis tops the agenda. The Prime Minister was served 24 different dishes during his first day at the summit – just hours after urging the world to reduce the "unnecessary demand" for food and calling on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food. Mr Brown and his wife Sarah were among 15 guests at the "blessings of the earth and the sea social dinner". The dinner consisted of 18 dishes in eight courses including caviar, smoked salmon, Kyoto beef and a "G8 fantasy dessert". The banquet was accompanied by five different wines from around the world including champagne, a French Bourgogne and sake. African leaders including the heads of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Senegal who had taken part in talks during the day were not invited to the function. The dinner came just hours after a "working lunch" consisting of six courses including white asparagus and truffle soup, crab and a supreme of chicken. The lavish dining arrangements – disclosed by the Japanese Government which is hosting the summit in Hokkaido – come amid growing concern over rising food prices triggered by a shortage of many basic necessities. On the flight to the summit, Mr Brown urged Britons to cut food waste as part of a global drive to help avert the food crisis. Opposition politicians and charities condemned the extravagant meals. Dominic Nutt, of Save the Children, said: "It is deeply hypocritical that they should be lavishing course after course on world leaders when there is a food crisis and millions cannot afford a decent meal to eat. "If the G8 wants to betray the hopes of a generation of children, it is going the right way about it. The food crisis is an emergency and the G8 must treat it as that." Andrew Mitchell, the shadow International Development Secretary, said: "The G8 have made a bad start to their summit, with excessive cost and lavish consumption. "Surely it is not unreasonable for each leader to give a guarantee that they will stand by their solemn pledges of three years ago at Gleneagles to help the world's poor. All of us are watching, waiting and listening." Mr Brown arrived at the G8 summit held on the holiday island of Hokkaido in northern Japan on Monday morning. He arrived on a plane chartered from Texas, America, which had to fly empty for thousands of miles to pick up the Prime Minister and his entourage. Unlike other countries, Britain does not have an official plane to transport the Prime Minister. The lavish dining will embarrass Mr Brown, who has made tackling the global food crisis a key priority. On the flight to the summit, the Prime Minister urged British people to cut food waste and "reduce unnecessary demand". He said: "We need a global plan to deal with rising food prices that are affecting millions of families in Britain. That's why I am proposing that we take action to both increase the global supply of food and reduce unnecessary demand. "If we are to get food prices down, we must also do more to deal with unnecessary demand, such as by all of us doing more to cut our food waste which is costing the average household in Britain around £8 per week." Talks between world leaders at the summit will focus on dealing with soaring food and oil prices. There is also hope for a breakthrough on protracted talks to secure a new global trade deal. However, the leaders are facing criticism amid allegations that pledges for development aid promised for the third world at a previous G8 summit in Scotland have been watered down. The Prime Minister's spokesman declined to comment on the menus. Story from Telegraph News: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/2262534/G8-summit-Gordon-Brown-has-eight-course-dinner-before-food-crisis-talks.html

haha that is quite the pouty chin! is that how she makes you do whatever she says?

but you told me you weren't going tonite...

tonight i plan to see... a bit of becky abbott before the JHs (saw her guest last night with tony d, and she was great) john henrys fo sho not an indie fan but i'll check out the river stage acts for a bit probably end up clusterfucking!

dang it! happy birthday then!

up in the balcony although it still sounds good...i feel a million miles away. the person onstage is the size of an insect. i've spent 100 to see jazz legends there before a few times and felt like i didn't really get the experience from up in the clouds (balcony). maybe i'm picky. anyway, as much as i want to go to this, i might have to miss it (financially and time wise). all shows and no worky hasn't been paying the bills so good. grrrrr. :mad: i could probably be talked into it though

the next several days are tough for conflicts at 9:30 (for me). gonna see a bit of it all i guess.

the lead british dude was jon amor (see bluesfest bios for yesterday) oh i forgot about the bluegrass at the black sheep stage too. they were fun.

i'd rather go to massey hall but montreal seems to make sense (on a saturday) for me....but that room is huge, you have to get good seats.

that 1 guy was great! crazy stuff. he played a saw, a cowboy boot and i have no idea what that huge contraption was. for the last song he hooked an electrolux up to it which blew smoke out of the top of it. betty lavette was great...what brad said. caught a bit of james taylor but it was soooo mellow and the wind was blowing the sound away from us. so we walked over to power hour with tony d and that was the highlight of the night for sure! they were SMOKIN. the first few tunes that we saw featured becky abbott on vocals, looked and sounded tasty, she had an amazing voice. then the lady guitarist (suzy v...? help me) sang a tune which was also great. then some british guitarists came out and rocked. it was great. blues at bluesfest, such a treat wandered back over to JT which was sounding much better and enjoyed some hits. i realized that a great view of the main stage for a packed show is actually outside on the street, clear view of the stage. tonight was just what i needed and way better than i expected all around!

any food vendor recs? i'm craving pad thai but theirs might be gross...lol

dang...no friends presale for this. PUBLIC ON SALE: Fri July 11 at 10am

no, but he grinned at me

we even got fireworks during setbreak i spotted u starhead at the end!

what are folks seeing tonight? i guess i am going to try creaking tree that 1 guy then try to catch a bit of federico aubele and betty lavette then onto JT

wow you saw a lot of bands this weekend velvet!

it was a good turnout! it was full but not crowded. however, the venue looked different to me than i remembered it (only my 2nd time there), so i think part of it may have been closed off? it seemed smaller (front to back) than at ween. i'm not good at estimating, but around 400 ?

ooooh...good on ya, tickets said 6!

i never got to meet the panic head skanks! momack, porch wrangler... dang.

dinghy, i didn't know it was your bday last night! happy belated! sounds like you had a great one

here's last night's setlist 07/06/08 (Sun) Ottawa Blues Festival - Ottawa, ON Set 1: Action Man > Henry Parsons Died > Climb To Safety, Pilgrims, Junior, Going Out West > All Time Low, Fixin To Die, Dying Man, Her Dance Needs Nobody > Chilly Water > Imitation Leather Shoes, Expiration Day, Tall Boy, Give E: Ribs and Whiskey, Thought Sausage the show was loud! i thoroughly enjoyed it even though i was weak and tired! goin out west>atl and dyin man and chilly were great. i enjoyed the toronto song selection and show more but was very happily impressed with the crowd last night and especially no lawn chairs great to enjoy a tallboy on the lawn with friends! YAY PANIC!

that was the greatest rock show i've ever seen* what an amazing night of fun. thanks for the hospitality TO skanks! it was so great to have WSP here i couldn't believe it. i loved the show, and the second set was indeed awesome...thin air was rockin and bear's gone fishing-blight was CWAZY. jimmy was smokin and jb's still hot to me, hehe i'm one satisfied lady * along with a few others

woop!

have a look around...you're in it

hehehe thanks i have a weak tummy and once it bounces off track, it doesn't always get back on track so good. i can most definitely get sick off even one draft beer! i'm sure i've whined around here before about it. i'm sure the greasy samosa didn't help matters though. from now on....SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTS!!!