Many years ago I visited Sri Lanka as the guest of a local church minister. While showing me a project to improve the living standards of poor labourers in the tea-planting region of Nuwara Eliya, he observed: ‘God is on the side of the poor. They wouldn’t survive at all otherwise.’ If you were to make a comparable observation from a non-religious perspective, you’d notice how those who have least will often demonstrate more hope and determination than those laden with the good things of life. Julian Dobson, editorial director, New Start Online magazine