I was young and slender when Live Aid was on, and I am old and fat now and took my teenage son to Live8 in Hyde Park in the Gold Circle and Murrayfield as well.  They were events of a lifetime. But I don't understand a couple of things - when videos were screened in Hyde Park demonstrating the deep misery and poverty experienced by our brothers and sisters in Africa, why were so many people still able to laugh and chat? Each time I witness the horrors I am in tears. I know tears solve nothing and I know we cannot dwell on sadness, but witnessing it several yards high in front of us surely the pity of it was unavoidable? And another, seemingly petty, problem - given that we are offering, and being asked to, take responsibility for pressuring powerful people, how is it that we cannot even take responsibility for our own litter? It may seem trivial, but everything matters and crapping up our environment, whether it is by allowing atrocities to continue without challenge, by passively accepting decisions taken by politicians, or by fouling our own surroundings, is surely unacceptable. If we ignore the little things they become big things and then they morph into out-of-control things. People at the Hyde Park gig seemed to think it was ok to walk around simply dropping their paper cups and rubbish for "someone else" to clear up. Get a grip! The word "respect" comes to mind. Do we expect "someone else" to clean up the mess made of Africa? Or AIDS? Or any other issues that eed people power to effect change?  

    Murrayfield was by far the better experience - the Gold Circle in Hyde Park included a large number of people who appeared to be there simply to be seen and to drink too much, and who ignored the gig and the reason for it  and who exhibited a scary degree of selfishness. There were also many people just having a good time, but for me it was a somewhat diminished experience because it had less meaning for us on the ground who were there because we support Make Poverty History. Whatever, I am glad it raised the profile for the issues at stake. Murrayfield, however, was more like a festival and a celebration, a clearly united voice and a purposeful event. Our first experience of Scotland and it was marvellous!  The event was focussed, purposeful, fun and groovy, and was clearly appreciated by the majority in the audience. The very few people there who were idiots were ignored and barely registered on our radar - a lesson for the megastars in Hyde Park.