The big question people are asking their elites is who is going to foot the bill for the banking crisis and its economic aftermath
As unlikely-sounding hybrids go, a fun protest against hunger in the developing world must rank up there with the centaur and the griffin. But this afternoon in London may yield such a fabled event – as long as the sun keeps up its end of the bargain. The Big If rally hopes to gather tens of thousands in Hyde Park to demand that the G8 tackle the causes of hunger. And so, with recorded messages from David Beckham and Eddie Izzard, the 10-day countdown to the G8 summit in Fermanagh will begin.
A lot has changed since the 2005 G8 summit, the last to be held in Britain. For a start, the leaders have almost all changed guard, with the sole exception of that hardy diplomatic perennial, Vladimir Putin. And Gleneagles was a boom-era summit, where the question asked by the elite was how to share the wealth more widely. Add to that politicking by Make Poverty History, and the diplomatic drive from Tony Blair and Gordon Brown– and you get $50bn for Africa.
The Fermanagh conference will inevitably be a less dramatic affair. For a start, it comes amid a historic slump for Britain and Europe, all but ruling out lots of cash for foreign countries, no matter how poor. The big question people are asking their elites is who is going to foot the bill for the banking crisis and its economic aftermath, which has expressed itself most loudly in fury over tax avoidance. In some senses, the key figure shaping the agenda for this summit is not Mr Cameron nor the activists, but Margaret Hodge. When the prime minister commanded Starbucks and other companies to "wake up and smell the coffee" on tax, and set it as a priority for his presidency of the G8, he was catching up with the public mood. The If... campaign on food is a smart way of wrapping lots of strands – including tax-dodging – round the understandable issue of hunger, but it also looks off the pace. That has not been helped by the If... group getting a tad too close to Downing Street. NGOs need to pose a greater challenge to the powerful, and make campaigns that reflect a globalised economy in which more poor countries are integrated into corporate supply chains. From Primark to Apple, this is a running theme of business stories – and it means that tax avoidance and labour standards must rise up the activists' agenda.
Still, we should hope that this G8 yields successes. The deal to be struck between Westminster and Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man on tax avoidance is excellent news, although Mr Cameron didn't require a glitzy summit to make it happen. The key prize is for the G8 to agree a deal on making tax avoidance transparent. If the prime minister can secure that, he'll have pulled off a triumph.