I’ve just spent a week in the diocese of Bukavu in Sud-Kivu where the Interahamwe continue to rape and raid. On Wednesday I visited Mwanda, an hour’s drive from Bukavu town. Just days before, rebel troops had attacked a nearby village, taking the community’s food and animals, leaving one man badly injured.

I’ve just met Furaha Ciwaci in a village outside Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She’s a 17-year-old girl with fierce eyes and a one year-old son.

Last month, David Cameron and Jeffrey Sachs wrote a piece in The Independent on the role of women in international development.

And so it begins. After weeks of election fever, the solid and well-oiled wheels of government have been set in motion: the big jobs have been meted out and the policy compromises of the coalition are being aired.

Thursday is going to be a pretty heavy day – I’ve got to vote for my choice of MP, mayor and three local councillors. The polling station, which normally hosts a playgroup and evening dance classes, is a fair stroll around the block, so I’m hoping that the weather isn’t too bad. I’ve got Thursday and Friday off work, so I can make time for putting my cross in the boxes then sit back and watch events unfold. Probably I’ll do it multi-media style – a bit of Radio 4, a background of BBC News and the Channel 4 alternative extravaganza, and maybe the odd foray into the Internet to see how things are going online. I don’t mean to be flippant; well I do actually, because we’ve got it so easy.

I take my hat off to the patience of climate ministers from all three major parties and the Green Party.

Was yesterday a good day to bury important global perspectives? Let's consider the evidence and then look at what you might have missed...

It feels like we're living in interesting times. Since Obama swept to power last year, it's as though the UK might be getting the message that enfranchisement is a precious right worth acting on. I'm not saying that Brown, Cameron or Clegg carry with them the hope and light of the 'Yes we can' roadshow, but perhaps the apathy of the past UK general elections will be thrown aside in favour of active participation.

It’s lockdown here in the Danish capital. But with about 100 police staying at my hotel, breakfast is a very safe affair.

Are you ready for this? I’m going to talk climate finance. Fascinating, I hear you whoop. Quite right.