This morning's papers bring an interesting review by Alex Renton of the new book by Paul Collier, The Plundered Planet. It's clear Renton finds strengths and weaknesses in the book. In principle he likes Collier's call for an 'ethics of custody' which makes decisions take account of the interests of all current and future citizens, but comments:

The problem with this idea, of course, is that it is dependent on good
governance and accountable government, and those are rarely notable
features of resource-rich under-developed countries.

Renton's conclusion, as a distinguished journalist, is that more attention needs to be paid to the scarce resource of accurate information. I agree. It's an oddly under-investigated subject. Amartya Sen famously established that a free press provides a safeguard against famine, in his Democracy as Freedom. Tim Besley at the LSE has done some research in this area. Charles Kenny has a forthcoming book which includes material on the impact of TV on development. But I can never find as much as I want to read about this subject. Any suggestions?