Jack's Malawi project deserves to keep going

REGARDLESS of which combination of parties forms the next Scottish Executive, I'm hopeful that Jack McConnell's initiative on Malawi will survive any change.

So what if some policymakers in Whitehall were quick to remind the First Minister and uppity MSPs that Westminster ruled the roost in all things pertaining to foreign policy? Those concerned with - and supportive of - what MSPs judged to be an act of humanitarianism, rightly continued to do what they could to make life just a bit better for those at the bottom of the economic heap, and help Malawi find a steady path out of its poverty.

I can't think of a member of the last parliament who was implacably opposed to the Malawi link-up once the genuine nature of the initiative became clear. Malawi needed friends and some pump-priming support, and we could go part of the way to meeting those needs.

Therefore, would it have been right for Jack to explain that the Scottish Parliament didn't have foreign policy-making power? Thousands of Scots wished him well, and understood the difference between dealing directly with the international agencies and local organisations responsible for a well-building project or a baby vaccination programme, and shovelling international aid money into Swiss bank accounts via Government departments and their ministers. Schoolchildren also gained an insight into what the other side of the educational coin is like in countries whose social fabric is stretched to the limit.

Their understanding of what makes the world so ill-divided was enhanced because they had a personal connection to one of Africa's poorest countries.

In the midst of an election that sometimes feels like a Dutch Auction, with every party promising more services and benefits for less tax, it was something of a shock to be returned to the real world inhabited by most of humanity. My thoughts on Malawi and some of the short-sighted and mean-spirited responses to the Scottish Executive's work there were sparked on reading the newsletter from James Gillespie's High School South Africa Student Sponsorship scheme.