Paul Vallely is Associate Editor of The Independent where he writes on social, ethical and religious issues.

As Africa correspondent of The Times he covered the Ethiopian famine of 1984/85 for which he was commended as International Reporter of the Year. He then travelled across Africa with Bob Geldof to decide how to spend the
money raised by Live Aid. He subsequently co-wrote Bob Geldof's best-selling autobiography, Is That It? He has reported from 30 countries in the developing world and was nominated for the UN Media Peace Prize.

He has been chairman of the leading development think-tank, the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR). He was also chairman of the fair trade organisation Traidcraft. He has worked on special projects with the development agencies Christian Aid and Cafod and has been editorial adviser to the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.

He is a former executive editor of the Independent on Sunday and of the Sunday Times News Review.

He has written a number of books including Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt and Promised Lands, a study of land reform in the Philippines, Brazil and Eritrea. He is the editor of The New Politics: Catholic Social Teaching for the 21st century and A Place of Redemption: a Christian approach to punishment and prison.