This is the worst possible time to cut funding. Palestinians are on the edge of survival. One in four people depend on aid.

It is profoundly disappointing to reach the stage of saying poor countries might be better off not signing this year.

We think that developing countries should not sign up to what's there if that's all there is.

We think that's a recipe for disaster.

We are potentially in the final throes of this round of talks at the World Trade Organization, which was meant to help poor countries but has gone way off track. What is needed from Europe now is not self-interest and intransigence but genuine concessions that will put trade at the service of development.

The hopes of a new development-friendly trade deal are dwindling and damage limitation is the order of the day.