Last night at 11pm AEST I watched Sky News active with growing
bemusement as a live news conference ran for a whole hour – called by
Sir Bob Geldof – to confirm that 20 years after the original Live
Aid concert the music industry was once again pulling together what can
only be described as the most gargantuan live music event in history.

“Live 8” is out to scorch the political conscience of the world’s
richest industrialised nations who comprise the G8. Geldof and the
music industry aim to double aid for African poverty and shame the
world into action. The five concerts will be held simultaneously in London,
Paris, Berlin, Rome and Philadelphia on 2 July.

But as Geldof and his celebrity sidekicks unveiled their plans for
this globally televised free musical extravaganza, it was emphasised
that the concerts serve
mostly as an advance party or aperitif to the main course at
Gleneagles Country Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland, where the next G8
summit will be held 6-8 July. Geldof is urging literally hundreds of
thousands of
people from around the world to make “the long march” to Scotland.
Already at the news conference a UK teacher’s union official responding
to the call, said his members would be there.

Read more on the site here.