Gee, if only he could do something himself...

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the United Kingdom (still one of the world's financial capitals) has advocated that African debt be forgiven, according to the AP. For those unaware, the Chancellor is generally seen as the 2nd most important man in Parliament, much like our Finance Ministers are.

For some reason, I can't shake the image of Homer Simpson, holding his Tomacco plant, saying "Lisa, I'd love to destroy this plant, but what can I do, I'm just one man!"

Now, it's true that there's been a row recently in the UK's Labour Party over whether or not Blair will lead the party to a new term, but still, you'd think that the second-in-command of the British government might be able to go a bit further than merely advocating debt relief?

(I am being deliberately unfair to Mr. Brown - I haven't had my cup of tea yet. Also, you should read the article. Brown is actually proposing a new Marshall Plan for Africa. It seems I've heard this one before...)