... faded statesmen like our erstwhile Prime Minister can justify collecting a £200,000 fee for simply agreeing to give a 30-minute talk to university students in Manila? But not content with THAT, he then went on to address a delegation of business people and pocketed a further two hundred grand. Not bad for a day's "work" ... !! And all this paid for from the coffers of a nation - rich in natural resources, yet struggling to survive economically [witness the number of citizens and their *children ... *some barely of school age, and *others whose parents cannot afford the "luxury" of having them attend classes ... begging in city streets] - where political corruption is rife.

It makes my 'blood boil'! What I cannot accept is, WHY - given the level of poverty that exists in countries like the Philippines - couldn't Tony Blair have 'done the decent thing' and waived these payments???