U.N. Relief Effort: Mats and Utensils To Save the Day

There are two sides to the relief efforts to save those stricken by last week's tsunami.
On the one hand, the United Nations have leapt into action by scheduling a meeting for the 9th January, releasing a video message from Kofi Annan, and deploying '10,000 bed sheets, towels, drinking water bottles, cooking utensils sets and mats'. Wow.
The second, and more obviously useful, response has come from the coalition led by the U.S., who actually have troops on the ground, distributing real aid to survivors. Even the BBC are giving press to the American action, even if they can't quite bring themselves to point out that it is proving more valuable than Annan's empty platitudes.
What is surprising, and saddening, is the response from the British government. Tony Blair, who's remained fairly quiet about the disaster so far, has finally gotten around to speaking to Channel Four News. In the interview, he had this to say:

'It is not simply the absolute horror of what has happened and how many people's lives have been touched.
But it is also the fact that the consequences of this are not just short-term and immediate, but long-term, and will require a great deal of work by the international community for months, if not years, to come.'

All very sensible, but what, in practice, is the British government actually going to do?

Mr Blair said he had believed from the beginning that the UN should be the lead agency in the relief effort, as 'the proper clearing house'.

As we said, there are two sides to the relief effort. To his shame, Blair just picked the wrong one.