- Yes, please. One's enough. - Thank you, sir.
Do you mind if I...
No. Go ahead.
That's a lot of sugar.
It's been quite a tough day.
The worse your day, the more sugar you have?
Yes. Well, within certain limits.
Never higher than four. Even on the worst of days.
It's actually not bad tea, seeing as how they're Italian.
How is your coffee?
Not great...
seeing as how they're Italian.
I had a boyfriend who used to make us sit like this.
He felt being directly opposite me put too much pressure on him to talk.
- Did he stay your boyfriend for long? - No.
Though it wasn't that that did it for us really.
He used to sleep in...
old, stripy Marks & Sparks pajamas...
with the top button done up.
I'd never do the top button up.
- Do you work round here? - Yes.
Interesting?
It has its moments.
A lot of paper.
A lot of pens.
- And you've just snuck out. - Yes.
For a bit of peace and quiet with no one talking to you.
No, this is...
It's nice.
You can move...
- Or I could, of course. - No.
- I'll come... - Here, let me.
No, stay there.
I'll come back.
What about you? What do you do?
Nothing.
A student of sorts.
So Marks & Spencer are still making good pajamas, then.
I wouldn't really know. It's mainly food these days, isn't it?
Don't know, really.
I haven't been in much recently.
I'm told it's the place for dating.
I'm told people go there to shop...
and they get casually talking about, you know, spaghetti alla carbonara...
and suddenly love flowers by the counter for people with under five items.
Wow.
I suppose people have got to meet somehow.
Yes.
Oh, dear.
My masters only give me tiny windows of freedom.
- I'd better be going. - Better finish it.
All the sugar will be at the bottom. It's the best bit.
Yes, if you want to be fat, fat, fat.
Which, of course, I do.
It was lovely sitting directly opposite you.
And you.
And I enjoyed the early diagonal bit as well, obviously.
I'm Lawrence.
I'm Gina.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
Look, you wouldn't care, perhaps, to meet again...
for a coffee or a bite to eat or something, sometime?
Okay.
Well...
Good Lord, good.
When would be a...
Whenever. I have absolutely nothing to do with my time.
That's rather a severe contrast.
What about lunch, then? Next Thursday?
No, damn. The Wednesday after that?
No. Oh, dear. That Friday, two weeks?
Yeah. I'm free.
Where?
There's a proper Italian restaurant next door.
It sounds good.
Okay, that's splendid.
It can't be very long, I'm afraid, because... No, but that's great. Thank you.
Something to look forward to.
Look, I'd better be going. I'm already aggressively late.
Go. Don't work too hard.
Sorry, I'm afraid that's what I do.
The Americans are completely against it and said they will never agree to it.
And the Germans?
The problem is there is very little public interest there.
Inflation high, unemployment high, immigrants unpopular.
If there was more public interest, they might do more, but there is no sign of it.
I know a couple of Germans who are very convinced.
I shall have to ask them to talk louder. What about the French?
The French are completely in favor, they've agreed to it already.
There we go, then. All we need to do...
is to get lots of French people to move to Germany and then we'll be fine.
All right, we'll leave it there.
But please, let's go through these figures one more time.
If we have to go ahead with only four of our G8 partners...
I need to be assured it's not such an embarrassingly small amount of money...
that it looks like a failure. Lawrence?
Yes, I'll go over the figures and get something back to you by Monday.
Good. Thank you all.
George, how are you?
- How's Ruth? - We're fine. We will be fine.
Good.
- Send her my love. - Yeah.
Come into the office. We'll iron out these subsidy issues.
I am actually meant to be meeting someone for lunch.
- Can you cancel it? - Not really.
- Something important? - No. But yes, in its way.
Okay.
We must get this done by the start of next week.
Very important, not a lot of time.
Go.
Sorry I'm late. I was, you know, inevitably...
That's fine.
- Goodness, you certainly... - Scrubbed up?
I wasn't going to say that. Was I going to say that?
I wasn't going to, surely.
Anyway, it's very good to see you and...
My father, in fact, came from Italy originally.
- Really? - Yes.
I mean, you wouldn't have known it if you met him.
He wasn't dark or anything.
But he was born in the north of Italy somewhere...
and then the family moved on here when his father died.
What age?
He was 13.
He ended up living with a very strange aunt called Zeppa...
in Dollis Hill.
Until he met my mom, whose name was, of course, Myrtle.
- Myrtle? - Yes.
And her father's name was Horace.
Christ, they were an unlucky generation.
I can't believe I've already told you my grandfather's name.
I'm not going to say a single word for the rest of the meal.
From now on it's you, you, you.
No, I'm the one who took the trouble to scrub up nicely.
You look just as bad as last time. You have to do most of the talking.
Yes, I don't really scrub up no matter how hard I try.
The more I scrub, the more you see the horror beneath.
- Can I help you? - Yes, please, I'll have the pea soup...
and the special risotto.
- And you, madam? - Same.
- Wine? - No, thank you.
- Madam? - Yes, please.
- Would you like to see the wine list? - No, you choose, I'll be happy.
Johnny, how are you, sir?
- Very well, thank you. And you? - Very well.
- Isn't that the Chancellor of the Exchequer? - Is it?
I think so.
And he just nodded at you.
Did he?
Yes.
Yes, that's right.
He's my boss, as it were.
I don't think I've ever seen a powerful person before.
You'd be surprised how little power...
politicians have actually got these days, in the end.
Except John Major.
Enormous sexual power.
- Do you think so? - Definitely.
Dirty, dirty, dirty John.
Very small cups.
Sort of wish I'd ordered a cappuccino now, could have strung it out longer.
It was very nice to see you.
You're not going to order a second coffee, are you, Lawrence?
No, I don't think so.
This is Gina.
This is the Chancellor.
William. Pleased to meet you, Gina.
Please make sure that Lawrence gets back to his post by nightfall.
The welfare of our cold and bitter country...
actually depends on him putting in a decent day's work once in a while.
I won't say another word to him.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Was the pea soup disgusting?
Inedible.
I think there were at least two types of pea in there...
one the kind you don't usually put in food.
Thank you for coming to my end of town.
You're welcome.
Do you live a long way away?
No. No, close enough.
Right.
I'd better be getting back.
So, goodbye.
- Bye. - Goodbye.
Bye.
Are we anywhere near delivering on any of them at all?
The closest is water.
Safe drinking water might just be achieved by 2015 as promised...
although not in Africa.
- And the worst? - All the others are bad.
We might halve the death rate for children under five by 2150.
And all children will be in primary school by the year 2311...
For God's sake, these are joke figures. Even the Prime Minister won't live that long.
Okay, three minutes for a cup of coffee.
Of course, Lawrence, you presumably won't be needing one...
having had quite a lot of coffee at lunch.
She's a pretty girl.
I don't call that pretty, I call that beautiful.
What do we think the difference is between pretty and beautiful?
Something to do with bone structure.
Pretty is pretty while young, beautiful will stay beautiful forever.
- What would you say, Lawrence? - Sorry?
Sorry, I wasn't listening. Did I miss something?
No.
Just talking about the American import duty on steel.
Yes. Tricky area.
Such intensive mating leaves the male exhausted...
a hardship that the king of beasts has to endure.
Hello.
It's me, Lawrence.
We...
Of course you remember, yeah.
It was only six hours ago. Yes, quite.
You'd have had to have had some sort of aneurysm or something to forget.
Yeah, anyway, I just wondered...
- That was lovely. - Yes.
Lots of coconut.
It's pretty crucial to be fond of coconut.
- I am. - Good.
This is no place for "coconutophobes."
I'm actually going away next Friday.
- Where to? - Reykjavik.
Goodness.
Sexy, blond Icelandic girls.
No.
It's a conference. And it's quite a big conference.
It's the G8 conference, actually.
What's that?
It's a long shindig...
where the big eight world leaders make plans for the next year.
Everything, including finance, which is why I'm going, obviously.
The only thing I know about Reykjavik is that Bjork comes from there.
Who?
The coolest woman on the planet.
Well.
The only thing I know about it...
is that it's where Bobby Fischer played Boris Spassky...
in the greatest chess match of all time.
Perhaps it's a place about which everyone knows only one fact.
Maybe we should ask the waiter, then we'd have three facts.
Yes.
He doesn't look exactly like the kind of person...
who might know a fact about Iceland.
No.
Shouldn't stereotype, though.
He might be a huge Bjork fan.
But we already have the Bjork fact.
True.
I actually dreamt about you a few nights ago.
God, how embarrassing.
What was I doing?
You were sitting in a cafe drinking tea.
Right.
Not fighting a dragon or something glamorous.
Sorry.
Do you ever remember dreams?
Not often. And when I do they're always the same...
and genuinely pathetic.
What?
I can't say.
- It's too embarrassing. - Go on.
I scrubbed up again.
On the whole, in my dreams people are begging me to...
join the Rolling Stones.
I'm sitting at home and the phone goes...
and it's Mick Jagger and Ron Wood...
together on speakerphone, I suppose...
pleading with me to inject a bit of new blood into the band.
Or I'm at the office and they say...
"Someone is waiting for you downstairs," and I'll get in the lift down...
and there's Keith Richards waiting on the sofa in the lobby.
He gives me his guitar and says...
"Come on, man, you have the music, play.
"We'll give you as much heroin as you like. Just lend us your hot licks."
I told you it was pitiable.
What happens then?
I always refuse.
I'm usually late for a departmental meeting, so I make my excuses, have to go.
Any idea what it means?
Obvious, I fear.
I'm not the man I dreamt I might be when I was young.
Isn't it wonderful the way there are absolutely no cabs...
in London at all nowadays?
Perfect for dithering.
I'll catch the late bus.
Don't be stupid. Nobody catches buses these days.
Although that's not true, actually, is it?
Because bus use has risen hugely...
in fact, in the last three years.
- Do you know everything about everything? - No. I'm sorry.
I know a lot about certain things...
transport, development...
but sod all about everything else, including, obviously, real life...
and Bjork, of course.
- Hello? - Hello.
It's me, Lawrence.
I know. I recognize your voice.
Aha, right.
Because I just had dinner with you for two and a half hours.
Yeah, right, obviously.
Look, I'm sorry it's so late.
I just wondered if, whether by any chance...
you might like to come to Reykjavik.
- Reykjavik? - Yeah, I'm moderately senior...
and we're allowed to bring wives and suchlike.
You know, if you are interested in learning any more facts...
about Iceland.
Lawrence will, of course, be zealously guarding his Millennium Goals...
won't you, Lawrence?
Yes, quite right.
But my instinct is that security will dominate again this year.
The Americans will certainly push for that...
and then the French will, of course, disagree with them for the fun of it.
I don't understand the French at all. Every one of them speaks English...
but will they speak it at summits? Will they hell.
You're talking to them at dinner in perfect English...
but the moment they move towards a microphone...
they immediately switch back into French.
It's a matter of principle, Ruth.
They still don't accept that French is not the world's dominant language.
And they're very cross that Spielberg has made more popular films than Truffaut...
very angry that Coldplay have played all over the world...
but no one buys Johnny Hallyday outside of Paris.
- See you in a minute. - Absolutely. Fourteen seconds.
- Don't cut it too fine. - Absolutely. As if.
Icelandair flight number 451 to Reykjavik...
is now boarding from gate four.
Sorry I'm late. The bus broke down.
No one takes buses anymore.
Actually they do. It's up 27.8% in the last three years.
- Oh, my God. - What?
- I forgot to pick up my luggage. - It's in the back of the car.
Really?
Cool.
All eyes are on the G8 Summit in Reykjavik this hour.
As we speak, finance officials are meeting. At top of the agenda...
Hopes are that some consensus can be reached among the world leaders.
We are not alone.
Mr. And Mrs. Anderson, that's room 3317. I hope you enjoy your stay.
Thank you.
See you tomorrow.
Yes, good. Ruth, lovely to see you. Night-night.
Night-night, Lawrence. Hello.
- Good evening. The name is Montague. - Mr. Montague...
That's room 5021. Here we go.
I hope you and your wife have a pleasant stay.
This is my fault. I should have made it clear.
- I will, in fact, be needing two rooms. - I'm sorry?
I will be needing two rooms.
One for myself and one for Miss...
- Taunton. - Taunton.
I'm afraid, sir, the hotel is completely full.
Are you sure?
I'm so sure of this, sir. This is the busiest week we've ever had in our hotel.
- We are completely booked. - Right.
Congratulations.
But, perhaps, are there any other hotels in Reykjavik?
There are, of course, many excellent hotels in Reykjavik, sir.
And me and my staff would be only too happy to contact all of them.
But I fear you will find they are all likewise completely booked.
Because of the honor of the conference being held here in Reykjavik.
Right.
I'm so sorry.
It's fine.
I'm such a fool.
You should have just said it was sex you were after.
No, but really, I have to make this clear straightaway...
because otherwise you'll have this thought...
lingering in the back of your mind throughout the entire stay...
that it was my intention to sort of trick you like a schoolboy into sharing a room.
Whereas the truth is, my arrangements have always been so simple...
that they simply book a room and then I turn up and sleep in it...
so this whole side of things I didn't give any thought to.
And clearly, when I said I was bringing someone...
they made a sort of assumption, and that's how we ended up in this situation.
And it would be torture for me...
if you suspected that it was deliberate.
I believe you.
Thank you.
Let's look at the room.
Oh, God. It's a double bed.
It's okay. I'll sleep on the couch.
No, I'll sleep on the couch.
I can sleep anywhere and you've got work to do.
Really, if I slept on the bed and you were on the couch, I couldn't sleep.
So there's no point in me sleeping on the bed...
because I couldn't sleep with you on the couch.
If you sleep on the couch, I'll sleep on the floor next to the couch.
And then no one will be in the bed and that's just silly.
Maybe the bed splits in two.
Maybe it's one of those doubles that isn't really a double.
It's a real double.
God.
- Lawrence, good night. - Good night.
- Night, folks. - The cafe is closing in 15 minutes.
Can I get you a final coffee, sir? Madam?
- Yes, thank you. Definitely. - Yes, thank you. That would be great, lovely.
So, tell me, what is it you're arguing about tomorrow?
Oh, God, it's pretty boring stuff.
I promise I won't be bored.
Okay.
One of the interesting things, my particular area, in fact...
is the debate about the Millennium Development Goals.
In the year 2000...
almost every country in the world signed up to a declaration...
I said it was boring.
No, I'm only joking.
"In the year 2000, almost every country signed up...
"to a splendid declaration..."
Right, it's a rather splendid declaration...
setting out certain goals to be reached...
by the year 2015...
No, I'm only kidding.
Tell me about these goals.
I'm not going to answer. You'll just fall asleep again.
I promise I won't.
I won't.
The goals were basically a universal promise...
to halve extreme poverty...
poverty that actually kills people.
To halve the number of children who die before they're five...
which is shockingly high, or mothers who die in childbirth...
which is heartbreakingly high.
You know, absolutely basic human rights that pass by about half the world.
- Good night, good night. - Good night.
- Good night, Lawrence. - Good night, Gina.
If you get bored tomorrow, give me a call. We can play.
Spend the very little money our menfolk earn.
That would be nice.
- We should probably... - Yeah.
Waitress, excuse me.
Is there somewhere, perhaps, that isn't closing?
The problem is, it's all going very badly indeed.
And at the current rate...
the world might be a slightly better place in 159 years.
By which time I'll be 216.
And you can do something about that?
- I'm afraid we are closing now. - Absolutely. Great.
Yes, that's the plan. The problem is this development stuff...
is all about the poor bastards who don't have any cash...
so it's likely to slip down the agenda.
- But you'll fight that. - Well, yes, and you know...
we might get half of what's really needed, which won't be too bad.
Maybe by the time we finish...
only 15,000 children will die unnecessarily each day.
Fifteen thousand?
- You're joking. - No.
Fifteen thousand would be half of what it is now.
Thirty thousand children die of extreme poverty every day.
A child who shouldn't die at all dies every three seconds.
- So, this is an important meeting. - Yes.
They always are.
Eight men in one room...
could literally save...
hundreds of millions of lives.
Good luck.
Thanks.
Here we are again.
Yes...
and if you don't let me sleep on the couch...
I'll ring hotel security and accuse you of a sex crime.
I've got all the cupboards.
Do you want to unpack in here?
No, that's fine. There's lots of drawers and stuff.
I'll be fine.
Come.
Sorry, the bathroom calls.
Right.
Good night.
Yes.
Good night.
Night.
Morning.
I thought you were asleep.
I was. I don't want to miss any of the excitement.
I fear "excitement" is definitely not the word for it.
When it comes down to it, we're just moneymen at work.
What it is, is a very big...
but very quiet, very polite battle...
with too much at stake.
- Coming down? - Yes, I'll be right with you.
It's not what you think.
I know she, as it were, walked behind me in her bra...
but there's actually nothing happening between us.
Why would it worry you if I thought there was?
I don't know. I suppose I fear you'd think less of her if she were with me.
Right, big day.
Without wanting to aggrandize ourselves...
I think we are fighting today for something as big as the abolition of slavery.
So, good luck.
Hold the line.
Debt and aid and trade. Push for everything.
But pretend you don't know it's everything.
Welcome to session one...
of the 2005 G8 Conference...
under the chairmanship of the United Kingdom.
Right, if we can move on to point nine...
I think this is a pretty uncontroversial matter...
which we all agreed on in February. Jean-Paul, over to you.
Yes, I've alerted you all to this issue.
If we look in paragraph 7...
there's a reference to the level of aid this year...
and our sense is that needs a little more refinement, and forgive me, George...
a little more realism, too.
Back to our top story now.
All eyes are on the G8 Summit in Reykjavik this hour.
As we speak, finance officials are meeting. Top of the agenda...
We keep going round on these things.
I feel it's time for the British delegation to show some flexibility.
And we are puzzled by the insertion in paragraph 17.
This implies that a change has been agreed of which we are not aware.
Hopes are that some consensus can be reached...
among the world leaders.
This resolution deals with trade subsidies. We hope this can be kept fairly short.
From our point of view, this can never be a short discussion.
I think there's another key issue here.
Before we can accept a whole package of these measures...
we're gonna have to come up with a far stronger plan...
on how to create and support good government in Africa.
The money we give to Africa...
can only work if there are effective systems in place.
Then Africa can start to tackle its own problems and help itself.
So, we're gonna have to make some hard choices.
Is it gonna be aid? Is it gonna be debt?
Is it gonna be trade? Because it can't be all three.
Whiskey or gin? Or both?
Whiskey. And some water would be lovely.
I thought what you were asking for was already half of what you needed.
I know. But it's been a very...
complex day.
We're in a time where generally...
people are very insecure about their economies.
It's not a good time for unselfishness.
Pity.
- Are you finished? - God, no. Nowhere near.
There's a working supper...
that will, I fear, last long into the night.
- I'm sorry. - No, it's fine.
For me, this room is the height of luxury.
- Did you have a good day? - Not bad.
Tomorrow I think I'll go further afield.
Try and find some actual ice...
since we're in Iceland.
Look, there's a drinks-before-dinner, though.
You'd be extremely welcome to accompany me, if you'd like to.
I mean, of course, you don't have to.
That sounds lovely.
I'll just have a shower.
I'm sorry, I used both the big towels.
I thought there were two more, but they turned out to be little ones.
I'll call down and get some more.
No really, don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm not really a big towel kind of guy.
- Scary. - Yes, but don't worry.
Some of the dullest people in the world are in this room.
There are gold medallists in the Boredom Olympics here.
Anything you say will be more interesting than everything they've ever said.
Shall we?
You'll be delighted to know, Gina, that even though George and I...
know absolutely nothing about you, we talk of very little else.
Oh, dear.
Watch out, bandit at 6:00.
Thank God, a cluster of people who speak English.
- Dearest Ruth. - William.
Chancellor, this is Gina.
Yes, I remember. How are you enjoying yourself, Gina?
I'm good, thanks. What about you?
Yes, yes, I'm having a tremendous time, too.
I hope you won't let them actually push...
the Millennium Development Goals right off the agenda.
No, that won't be happening.
But they have already slipped a little down the agenda.
There's always a bit of agenda-juggling on the first day.
Couldn't you juggle the Millennium Goals upwards?
From what Lawrence tells me, they're the most important thing.
It's always difficult to push matters of foreign financial policy...
high up on the agenda, but you know, we are doing the best we can.
Good. I don't know anything, obviously...
but it sounds to me like that's the one that's really a matter of life and death.
Sounds to me like that's the one that's really worth fighting for.
And I'll be fighting, believe me.
The fight against poverty is very important to me.
But it's also important that we represent the interests of people in our own country.
Yes, of course.
Though I don't believe for a moment that people in our country...
would want you to represent their interests...
if you were doing it instead of talking about saving the lives...
of millions and millions of children...
who will definitely die next year if you all don't sort things out.
My goodness.
Lawrence didn't tell us that you were a woman of such strong opinions.
We've got to go.
We have a couple of things we have to sort out before the session starts. Forgive us.
- Right. - Sorry.
- Am I in total disgrace? - No.
It was just a little unexpected.
Sorry.
We accept that the Millennium Goals were important and aspirational.
But how we achieve those aspirations is complex.
We agree, and we feel the best way to help a continent like Africa...
is by having a strong world economy.
A weak world economy and we all go down together.
And poor countries can recover.
Take a look at China these last five years.
Through the operation of a vigorous and traditional trade...
China has become the fastest-growing economy in the world.
Lawrence, over to you.
Yes.
The statistics suggest...
that Africa may be a special case.
Twenty-three of the twenty-five poorest countries are in Africa.
And in the last five years, 23 out of 23...
Have become comparatively poorer. We appreciate that.
Yes, right. So we feel...
a dramatic and daring package of measures is needed.
We're not saying that we don't want to talk about it.
We're just saying that when we talk about how to make our own economy strong...
we are talking about how to solve poverty.
Even in Africa.
How did it go?
I think I'll try that whiskey-and-gin-together thing.
Sorry, will you forgive me if I go to bed?
The schedule is very unforgiving.
Of course.
- Will you forgive me if I don't? - Of course.
There are so many things in that fridge and someone has to eat them.
I hope you don't mind.
- I've just been reading some of this stuff. - No, I don't mind.
Which of the gripping topics have you been reading about?
It can't really be true that 800 million people...
are living on less than a dollar a day.
Yes, and at the other end of the scale, there are cows in Scotland...
that are subsidized to the tune of £12,000 a year.
The cow could fly around the world first class...
for the amount of money we pay the farmer to rear it.
And 100 mothers dying because of AIDS...
would not die if they had the cow's money instead.
It is all very bad now.
I remember when the terrible...
tsunami struck...
and that grim death toll. 250,000.
That's an average week for the poor.
You should have more pictures in these papers...
so we can actually see what they're about.
It says here that billions don't have clean water...
or thousands are dying of AIDS, but you know it would be better...
if you could see children drinking the dirty water...
or, you know, see a child...
No, I mean, not see a child dying...
but, you know, something that would make it more real.
That's a very good idea.
I'll suggest it for the next summit.
I'm glad to be helpful.
Would you like some chocolate?
No, thank you.
Good...
'cause there's none left.
I'm sorry, I'd better try getting back to sleep.
Do you often have trouble sleeping?
When I have things on my mind, yes...
but you know, often I solve problems late at night.
- That's the problem then. - What?
The thought that you might solve problems when you're awake late...
- is the reason you're awake late. - Right.
I'll try not to think about anything.
When I can't sleep I pretend that I'm an extra in a film...
and I'm being paid for pretending to be dead...
and there's a close-up camera on me...
so I have to relax every muscle in my face...
and finally I fall asleep.
- I'll try it out. - Good.
Pretend you're dead. It's my trick in life.
Are you gonna kiss me good night?
Yes, of course.
Or maybe not.
Might set me thinking.
Risk it.
Good night.
Sleep tight.
Don't let the bedbugs bite.
- Are you asleep? - No.
I've been pretending to be dead since 1:00 a.m.
But, unfortunately, I'm still alive.
Still awake.
This might work.
Now go to sleep, or I've just wasted the last 45 minutes.
Sorry, I absolutely know that the whole point is that we go to sleep...
but can I just say that this is a very unusual thing for me...
and don't think because I'm not saying much...
that I wouldn't like to say a lot.
No. I won't think that.
- How about you? - Quiet.
Chatterbox.
Where are you going?
Breakfast.
Me, too.
You're the first person I've ever kissed who had a tattoo.
When I was young, the only person who had a tattoo was Popeye.
- And you didn't fancy him? - Not really.
Prime Minister, may I introduce...
Don't look now, but the Prime Minister has just arrived.
Good morning, Gina. Good morning, Lawrence.
Morning, sir.
This is Herr Gerhardt, my equivalent number in Germany.
Good morning.
And how is it going with the Millennium Goals now, Chancellor?
- I think we'll do all right. - Is "all right" good enough?
Is "all right" good enough for you, Mr. Gerhardt?
I think "all right" is a lot more than many expected.
So, lots more mothers die the day they give birth?
Lots more children die before they're five? Lots and lots more die of diseases...
that are just a jab and a joke to people like you and me?
Young lady, I think it might be helpful for you to look at it the other way round.
Thousands will benefit from what we do today...
who otherwise would not have done so.
I can see that.
It's just, you know, tough for the ones on the wrong side of the line.
It's a very complex issue, Gina.
Lawrence and I have often found in the course of our work...
that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
I know.
But then my dad, who maybe wasn't as educated as you two...
used to say that a lot of knowledge can be dangerous, too.
It stopped you seeing the heart of things.
Enjoy your meal.
Will you tell me what in the name of Christ is going on?
- Who the fuck is that woman? - I'm sorry, I'm terribly sorry.
No, no, no, I mean it. Who is she?
- She's just a girl I met in a cafe. - Is she? Is she?
Because it seems to me, we've come to Iceland to lock ourselves...
in this bloody hotel to get away from lunatic protesters...
and now we've actually brought one especially with us...
who at every turn attacks the only man...
who is committed to doing something which she cares about...
namely me!
Gerhardt looked like he was going to explode.
Talk to Robert, Lawrence. I can't talk to you now.
There is a security issue here, Lawrence. Can you vouch for her at all?
I'm afraid I can't, not officially. I haven't checked her passport, as it were.
We do have to make sure she's not planted here to disrupt.
- Absolutely... - And even if she isn't...
- she is disrupting things. - I can see that.
- I think you will have to ask her to leave. - Right. Certainly.
Can it be tomorrow?
I'm not going to negotiate with you about departure time, Lawrence.
You decide what you think is the right thing to do here.
Right.
I am truly sorry.
And I'm sorry to say it's already a little late for that.
- Are you all right, Lawrence? - What can I say, George?
We have a pair of unfortunate situations here...
A man who has nothing in his life except his work, that is unfortunate.
And then by a stroke of bizarre chance...
he finds someone who makes that not true for a day or two.
But then suddenly it seems as though...
the price that has to be paid for that ray of light...
is some kind of...
disgrace.
It doesn't seem quite fair.
But then, of course, you of all men know all about unfairness.
I'm sorry, I know.
George.
We should go.
- Can I just have 10 minutes? - Yes.
- They want me to go, of course. - Yes.
- What do you want me to do? - Stay. Obviously.
Thank you.
It felt like the right thing to say.
It was probably the wrong thing to say. What do you think?
It certainly wouldn't have been my modus operandi.
I see you coming back after each meeting...
feeling you've failed the people you don't want to fail...
and I feel I have to stick up for people who are being bullied.
When I was in prison it was all bullying, and I couldn't stand it there either.
Sorry, "prison"?
Yes.
- You were in prison? - Yes.
You said you were a student of sorts.
I had a lot of time to study.
- For how long were you in prison? - Not long.
When we first met, I had just come out.
Why didn't you tell me any of this before?
I haven't told you anything about myself. You don't know anything about me.
Of all the bits, why would I tell you that bit?
Why don't I know anything about you?
Because I don't feel...
anything that's interesting about me...
has anything to do with things I did before.
I have to go...
or I'll lose my job, which I've probably lost already.
What happened...
last night, was that just...
part of a plan?
There is no plan.
I've never had a plan.
William, we've been talking late into the night...
and we think we've found a solution to the Millennium Goals debate.
That's very good news.
It seems to us that the crucial thing is to demonstrate...
that money we give to Africa can work.
Therefore, we think we should look at the impact...
of what we're already doing on AIDS...
strengthen it, and then all commit...
to that single crucial millennium target being met.
A major success is what we need.
Yes...
good.
It's certainly...
a tempting compromise.
But I'm still so disinclined...
to say that we'll help the few today...
and let the majority wait...
on the off-chance that 10 years from now...
there'll be a bunch of people...
as determined as we are right now.
Of course, I eagerly embrace your initiative.
But I still think we can make some progress on a comprehensive package:
Debt, aid, trade.
A lot of us are unsure whether this is actually...
a realistic forum for resolving trade issues.
With the best will in the world, William...
there's just not time for that comprehensive package to emerge.
It's just not possible.
Let me just go over some of the other important issues...
that we're here to discuss.
International security, the global economy, the instability of oil prices.
We have already spent a long time on this single issue.
Yes, let's...
Let me come back to you one more time in the next session.
It cannot be with the same package. No one is going to accept that.
No, fear not.
I think we can come to a position that will satisfy us all.
How did it go?
There'll be a deal.
There always is a deal at the end of the day.
It's the...
civil servant's fate.
The well-crafted compromise.
- So it's the big dinner tonight? - Yes, it's the big dinner...
prime ministers, presidents, everyone.
Of course, you can come if you like.
And then tomorrow all the vicious decisions are made.
We make our announcements...
acknowledge who our enemies really are...
and the extent to which we have failed.
Everyone licks their wounds and heads for home.
Can you help me with this?
I've been getting fatter.
You're not fat.
It's a well-established scientific fact...
that zips...
shrink in Iceland.
Thank you...
but I was definitely thinner a few months ago.
Can I just ask you about that...
The thing you mentioned earlier?
It would be so much nicer if you didn't.
- Close your eyes. - What?
Close your eyes.
I do now know four things...
about Reykjavik.
Bjork comes from here.
Spassky played Fischer here.
Zips shrink here.
And it is possible in Reykjavik...
to have a night of something quite close to love.
- Lawrence, just a word. - Yes, excuse me.
- What the hell is she doing here? - You actually left the choice up to me.
- I thought I left you with no choice. - I couldn't do it.
It wasn't personally possible.
If she causes trouble, there will be hell to pay.
I know, but she won't.
You created quite a stir this morning.
- I'm very sorry. - No, no, it's fine.
Gave me something exciting to tell the children when I called home.
How many kids have you got?
Three. Sorry, two.
I had three, now I have two.
I'm sorry. That's a mistake I'll soon stop making.
- I'm so sorry. - No, that's fine.
It's the worst thing.
I know, it is the worst thing.
I'm so sorry, with everybody else I'm prepared.
It's just with strangers.
It was a motorbike.
Happens all the time. Happened to us.
Why not?
So, on good behavior tonight?
Of course. I'll try and behave as well as I can.
Three hours next to the dullest man in Canada.
And that's a pretty competitive category.
- So far, so good. - Meaning what?
You've managed to go 20 minutes...
without annoying the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.
Pray silence for the Prime Minister.
Ladies and gentlemen...
I was really going to make quite a long speech...
but, studying the menu...
I see we have the most delicious soufflé for dessert...
and I fear if I talk so long that the soufflé collapses, so will the talks.
He's a very funny man. The public don't realize it. Very charming.
Let me start with the big thing.
Five years ago...
the world made a series of the most magnificent promises...
and we have determined...
to use this conference seriously...
to indent the most extreme...
curses of poverty in the world today.
We shall not let them out of our sights...
even if we may not yet have the power to fulfill them all.
Hear, hear.
That's not true.
Oh, my God. Don't tell me.
That's not true.
I'm sorry, madam...
but heckling isn't really a tradition at these gatherings.
What are the traditions, then?
Well-crafted compromise and just sort of ignoring the poor?
Perhaps we can talk about this later?
I doubt it. I imagine I'll be thrown out later...
so it's probably got to be now.
I don't know how much the rest of you ladies know about what's going on...
but my friend here tells me that while we are eating...
100 million children are nearly starving.
There's just millions of kids who'd kill...
for the amount of food that fat old me left on the side of my plate.
Children who are then so weak, they'll die if a mosquito bites them.
And so they do die...
one every three seconds.
There they go.
And another one.
Anyone who has kids...
knows that every mother and father in Africa...
must love their children as much as they do.
And to watch your kids die...
To watch them die...
and then to die yourself in trying to protect them...
that's not right.
And tomorrow...
eight of the men sitting round this table...
actually have the ability to sort this out...
by making a few great decisions.
And if they don't...
someday, someone else will.
And they'll look back on us lot and say:
"People were actually dying in their millions unnecessarily...
"in front of you...
"on your TV screens.
"What were you thinking?
"You knew what to do to stop it happening and you didn't do those things.
"Shame on you."
So that's what you have to do tomorrow.
Be great instead of being ashamed.
It can't be impossible.
It must be possible.
As I was saying...
before I was so cogently interrupted...
Right. We have a tiny way to go on items seven and thirteen...
but it looks like we're gonna make more progress on subsidies than we hoped.
As for the now-infamous Millennium Goals, obviously it has not been easy...
but I believe there's a good deal in sight and we should go ruthlessly for that.
Anyone got anything to say on anything before we head in?
It's not a good deal.
It's a deal, it's not a good deal.
I think, in the circumstances...
we're going to probably, unfortunately...
have to listen to your opinion...
with circumspection, Lawrence.
I know. But I feel I have to speak anyway.
I intend to resign my position after today...
because I feel I've behaved foolishly...
and from now on would be treated quite rightly...
like a cuckold and a fool.
So let me just say that I think the woman in question...
was, in broad terms, correct.
I think we get into the habit of always compromising...
and therefore, we are always compromised.
We work and work all our lives...
and we don't get what we're working for.
And I think that if we were the men we all dreamed we'd be...
when we were all young...
we'd be doing deals on all the other things...
and going home to explain our little failures...
to our own countrymen, but we wouldn't compromise...
the actual lives of people we will never meet...
just because we'd never have to explain to them face-to-face...
why we didn't think it was worth fighting to stop them dying.
Thank you for that, Lawrence. As things stand...
then yes, perhaps it will be better if you left us to these final discussions.
It didn't turn out to be the perfect romantic mini-break.
No.
Two little things: First, don't worry too much.
My life's been full of harsh things...
and I'll surf this one, too. Second...
you sat down opposite me.
What?
I've been thinking.
I know you'll always wonder if it was a plan...
some kind of conspiracy...
but if it was, I would have had to sit down next to you...
followed you in, sat next to you.
But you sat opposite me.
The facts don't fit.
Unless I possess a strange mental power that sucked you over to my table.
So...
So?
Why did you do it?
- On the off-chance. - What "off-chance"?
On the off-chance it could make a difference...
and because I've got nothing to lose.
Except me.
I'll try to take comfort from the fact...
I was trying to do what you wanted me to do...
even though you didn't want me to do it.
Gina, shall I...
Shall I come home with you?
No.
No, the nice bit's over.
The rest is just disappointment and my past catching up with me again.
Look at me.
I absolutely can't imagine a real future together.
Can you?
Let me take you to the airport.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
And thank you.
You've been tender and true.
And that's unusual.
Tell me.
Why were you in prison?
I hurt a man.
Why?
Because he hurt a child.
Killed a child.
Your child?
Does it matter whose child?
Fuck you!
Fuck you! Fuck, you wanted it!
Ladies and gentlemen...
we have an epic day ahead of us.
I think we are decided on 7l8 of the agenda...
and you have in front of you...
draft proposals for our final statements, as agreed.
Which brings us to these wretched Millennium Goals...
and whether this is the conference...
at which we really commit...
to the fight against extreme poverty...
or simply move ahead sensibly to achieve what is achievable.
And my instinct and therefore my determination...
is that despite yesterday's bizarre interruption...
which put the case, I think, somewhat too emotionally...
we should do the huge deed.
We cannot allow this casual holocaust...
to take place on our watch for one more year.
So, extreme poverty will return...
to the top of the agenda today.
We will make definitive progress on aid...
on debt relief, on trade justice...
and anyone who thinks that's negotiable...
is, as my dad used to say, "bloody well mistaken."
Ladies and gentlemen, we're handing around new proposals.
And remember, even if the Prime Minister and I are alone on this...
We are not alone.
Behind us stand the 30,000 children...
who will die of extreme poverty each day...
and we are proud to be their representatives.
I didn't give my life to politics...
in order to say that I was part of a generation...
that succeeded in cutting the tariff...
on the import of processed coffee to 27.3%.
I want to be a member of that great generation...
that for the first time had it in its power...
to wipe out poverty, and did so.
Are we alone in this?
Or will someone else stand beside us?
Okay, they're coming out. Here goes.
- Hello? - Turn on your TV.
Ladies and gentlemen...
it's my duty and responsibility...
to report to you the outcome of this summit.
A summit when, I believe...
we had the opportunity to change the world.
{{{the end}}}