Another week of good news, bad news.

As a Liberal Democrat who believes in seeking as local a solution as possible I have to acknowledge that there are times when we need global solutions. As one of the wealthier nations we owe a duty of care to those who are not as wealthy. In a globalised world problems do not stay local for long. Financial problems, environmental degradation, political instability, problems for the developing world are problems for the developed world too. We have to acknowledge that the global financial crisis is more extreme for those developing countries who are now suffering dramatic cuts in economic growth. It is not simply an economic problem but an humanitarian issue when millions more people will experience extreme poverty as a result of the current crisis. The proposals on development aid can therefore only be good news.

Liberal Democrats have been asking for better financial regulation '“ why shouldn't this be extended to the world economy? Why should those who have more money use their privilege to obtain more through tax havens and other tax avoidance schemes?

The bad news is that the green measures in the final communiqu from the G20 summit are not strong enough, delaying detailed agreement on climate change measures until November.

As a result of the protests held in London only one person died. Is that good news or bad news? It must be bad news that any died at all. Serious questions are being asked

about the circumstances that led to a reportedly innocent bystander dying as a result of police action. I was horrified by some of the reports in the media about the way the police controlled protests but equally I was horrified by those who admitted that they were there purely to cause trouble.

The liberal world was elated at the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, pinning great hope on his reversing some of the measures implemented during the presidency of George W. Bush. He has, I believe, passed the test in global politics in declaring his intention to work towards nuclear disarmament

On the home front, I hope that the news about Conservative London Mayor, Boris Johnson is having a great impact on wavering voters. The double bad news in this case is that firstly he has halved the number of his environmental team and then, under his chairmanship, The Metropolitan Police Authority reinvested 30m in Iceland after warnings by their treasurer that that was a bad move. The result - a huge waste of public funds.