Back in the early 80s, when I was a student, 'everyone' was outraged about Nestle selling powdered milk to the developing world. Many boycotted them. Some still do.

But yet the tragedy of the manufactured/marketed 'need' for these same people to own expensive smartphones now goes unnoticed and unremarked.

How times change.

"By next year the world's richest 1% will own more than the rest of the world put together."

I have to say I get a bit fed up with headline grabbing numbers like this which don't tell the whole story. There may be an issue about which Oxfam might lobby the World Economic Forum, but this statistic is completely irrelevant to it. Anyone reading this blog who owns a house will easily be in the world's wealthiest 10%. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30949796

That Apple quarterly report sickened me, too.

I too hate abuse of statistics Tim. BUT I hate some people taking advantage of other people more. When is enough enough?

My daughter and I were talking about smartphones and wealth last weekend. We both agreed that, in the past few years, wifi and smartphones had made a more positive contribution to our lives than any other new addition we could think of. I'm sorry if that means we're shallow, but I don't think that many people have them to be cool but because they're useful and enjoyable too. I didn't get it before I had one either.

And we were startled to find that one will apparently need only half a million pounds or so in assets to be in the top 1%. We don't have a particularly wealthy lot of friends, but a lot of them are in that category, myself included, and it made us realise just how many people there are in the world as well, of course, as reminding us of how poor most of them are.

I think you must be wrong, BW. If the power of big company advertising is so great among these people, why are they not spending their money on fast food, coke etc? How is it that Apple and Blackberry have reached them (by what means?), whereas MacDonalds have not? You would have thought that it would take very little to persuade a hungry people to buy food rather than a phone, unless you have misjudged their needs entirely.

It is wrong to impose our Western values on other nations. If status or 'cool' matters more to them than food, then that is their decision.

We see the same thing over here. If you see a TV interview of someone who is in 'dire' poverty, the chances are you will see a huge TV set behind them, and racks and racks of DVD's as well. And probably lots of children.

Live and let die!

Temp - townships are complicated - and the inhabitants will support their own enterprises and 'shanty shops' where possible. While some people go to work outside them, the little that they earn often supports 6 or 8 other people (sometimes in townships in more isolated areas).

The shanty shops sell the usual soft drinks, including coke and fanta, alongside huge sacks of rice and peas and tins of often unidentifiable things.

The malls certainly have fast food places, but you don't see many poor black people eating in them - only working in them. And, now that all townships have electricity, many shacks do have TV (again discouraging enterprise).

South Africa is, if you choose not to see the poverty, in many respects, in many places, as first world a country as you will find, except that massive inequality remains. For the blacks who have very little, having the 'right' phone gives them a status in both their own community, and the complete community, that they don't otherwise have, but, in my opinion, at huge cost.

Similarly, over here, go and stand outside a food bank, or near a children's centre in an area of high economic deprivation, or outside school gates in less affluent areas, or even just in a cafe or library where young mums congregate, and just watch them with their phones - the phone is flashed around and pased around, and occupies more of their time than their kids.

Luxury or necessity?

The only person I know with an iPhone 6 is also one of the lowest earners I know...I really don't understand it and I like shiny tech stuff as much as the next man.

One of my Patchy Ladies has an iPhone 6 - no idea how to use it, but has to keep up with the grandchildren. We were discussing FOTCR presents and she proudly displayed it and when asked (not by me!) how much it cost, she said, without flinching at all, "£620." Several of the others in the room choked.

I then proceeded to tell her how Mr BW had recently bought a smartphone, a tablet, a powerful laptop, and a wireless booster for less than that.

There was a stunned silence, then she said, "Ah yes, but, you're thrifty!"