Today We Drop Bombs, Tomorrow We Build Bridges: how foreign aid became a casualty of war
PETER GILL

Is it possible to intervene militarily in conflict zones and supply humanitarian assistance at the same time? More in ­sorrow than in anger – though there is anger too – the journalist and broadcaster Peter Gill describes the gradual shrinking of the space which once allowed humanitarian aid agencies to navigate their way safely between warring enemies, and laments the growing disinclin­ation of some agencies, increasingly dependent on government funding, even to attempt to assert their neutrality.

Gill weaves his way from Syria to Afghanistan to Pakistan and Somalia, stopping in Geneva to recount the beginnings of the International Committee of the Red Cross and in Paris to learn about the origins of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), building up a complex and sometimes disturbing mosaic of experiences good and bad.