To end extreme poverty give cash - not advice | Rory Stewart (TED Talk Daily) - I have to say I quite often disagree with Rory and Alistair, for instance my heart sank after listening to a pretty good episode all about the recent US election debate, when they finished it off by saying Trump watched too much tele while eating Big Macs, out Trumping Trump as it were. They do the exact thing they so veheminently object to in others. I guess it’s just this horrid bit of human nature that is in us all. Anyway putting all that aside for a second, because this TED talk is a real tour de force. I think Rory is right about cash, because aid work so often is just a way to hide people stealing, it never reaches the vulnerable. Just give it to them directly. And the no strings attached thing is important too, and perhaps the most difficult. Saying 'buy some food' to a homeless person as you give them cash, is an attached string. What if they need to buy a bar of soap or a bottle of water instead, you’ve just removed their agency or turned them into a liar. You can’t live their life for them. Blocking them is really just you blocking yourself, because next time it will be even more difficult. Worth listening to this episode. podcastindex.org #