Tax avoidance doesn't just damage the UK. It hurts ordinary people across the globe, wherever they live. A new piece of research by ActionAid has shown the activities of one British food company to be leeching vital funds from Zambia, one of the world's poorest countries.

60% of Zambians live on less than $1 a day. In rural Zambia, 57% live in extreme poverty and are unable to meet basic food needs. Through the social protection programme, 99,000 recipients (84% of them women) will be reached by 2015 - over 60% supported by UK aid.

Physical and sexual abuse of women is a global scourge, that transcends borders. From the UK, where one in four women will be the victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime to Zambia, where 47% of women have suffered gender-based violence.

In a developing country like mine, Zambia, the need for this money is even more vital. Life expectancy is 48, adult illiteracy is at 35% and the infant mortality rate is nearly 20%. On top of that we are also suffering the effects of climate change, water-borne diseases and malnourishment.

Good for Jimmy Carr. In the face of a national outcry and a Twitterstorm of protest at revelations that he uses tax havens to pay as little as 1% income tax, the acid tongued comedian has seen the error of his ways and apologised.