Yesterday was my first Shadow Cabinet meeting, but the main event of the day was going to Oxford for a three hour briefing at Oxfam Headquarters. They are really huge these days and I guess that is reflected in the extension of what they do from where they started when first founded to a now much wider brief.
So – I was briefed on situations in Sudan, Middle East, Asia and the rest; on arms treaties and trade; on climate change and development and so on and so on. It was tremendously interesting and useful – as the NGOs are numerous in this field and are on the front line.
That having been said, I have some clear ideas of where I want to go with the portfolio and am setting up a strategy group to map out the next year.
Lynne Featherstone 
Remember, NGOs have a political agenda too…I don’t know about Oxfam, but much talk on development is geared towards socialistic aims and anti-trade measures which will make the poorest poorer (Christian Aid have been terrible in the past, although I hear they’ve sacked those responsible for their anti-capitalist rhetoric)Not that charities can’t do lots of good, but they should complement free trade and globalisation as a means to combat global poverty.
It is a really compex brief, so good luck on your briefing rounds!Taking up Tristans point, there was an interesting discussion on ‘The Trade Trap’ on the BBC back in Novenber 2005, including an OXFAM represenative…http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/analysis/transcripts/24_11_05.txt