Flu vaccine.

The first rule of commerce is very clear. He who has the money gets to stand first in line !

That is proving correct with the distribution of the Swine Flu vaccine. Australia has ordered twenty-one million doses and the other developed countries look like swamping production facilities - to the detriment of the third world.

An even bigger problem is emerging over the horizon.

We are heading into a world food shortage ! The price of basic foodstuffs have been increasing faster than the inflation rate in the developed world, and much faster than the capacity of those existing on less than a dollar a day to cope.

A lot of people are going hungry and at the present rate of price increases we can expect famine - and the death of many people - to become a fact of life.

Hungry people are angry people - and angry people are desperate people. We are already seeing huge surges in migration as lack of food forces an exodus to where food may be available.

When that surge becomes overwhelming even civilized states resort to inhumane tactics. There have been reports in some Asian countries of refugee boats being pushed offshore - or towed out to sea and abandoned.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing civilization is the need to expand the food supply - and do it at a cost that is within the reach of the world's poor.

The main hope of achieving that could come from Genetically Modified ( GM ) crops - something passionately rejected by " the Greenie " movement !

We seem to be facing a choice - the lesser of two evils !