UN goodwill ambassador and Hollywood star Ewan MacGregor's goodwill does not seem to extend to the plight of the Burmese people and Buddhist monks in their struggle against a brutal military dictatorship which practises murder, torture and detention of monks and pro-democracy activists, as well as forced labour, rape and conscription of child soldiers.

MacGregor, who played Jedi knight Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels, stars in 'Long Way Down' (BBC2, Sunday evenings), which logs the actor's epic journey by motorbike with childhood friend Charlie Boorman from John O' Groats to Cape Town. The project has UNICEF as one of its partners. Unfortunately, the show is also sponsored by Total Oil, which provided its Excellium fuel for all vehicles for the entire trip. It would seem that MacGregor and the BBC have a lot to answer for.

A worldwide day of action against French oil giant Total's investment in Burma has been called for Wednesday 7th November, the day the company's quarterly results are published. Total's continued involvement in the operation of the Yadana gas pipeline in the south of the country, in partnership with Chevron-Texaco, is opposed by the country's democratically-elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest or detention for 12 years. The pipeline earns the regime hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue every year, with only a tiny fraction reaching the Burmese people. The main customer for the pipeline is Thailand.