Marianne Elliott

My friend is the casting director for The Hobbit. She is, as you might imagine, passionate about her work.

So you might be surprised to learn that my last conversation with her was about the limits of passion. Passion, we agreed, is not enough. Nor is enthusiasm. Or persistence....

Periodically someone comes up with a bright new "aid" idea that generates a lot of discussion about effective aid and good intentions. Last year it was one million used t-shirts to Africa.

When I sent a tweet about ineffective aid, saying "Your old stuff is not good aid", a...

In my country (New Zealand), we get well-schooled in the dangers of getting "too big for our own boots." We call it the "tall-poppy syndrome": the risk that any flower who stands above the rest will have its head lopped off.

I know some people who suspect this is what's...