Ray Davies speaks on New Orleans

"Ray Davies, the former bandleader of the British rockers The Kinks, says he's amazed to see American reporters covering Hurricane Katrina's impact finally discover the poverty of some in the America.

"I have been astonished by the reactions and apparent shame of some of the U.S. television reporters who seemed overwhelmed to discover that there actually is poverty in America," said Davies. "They made me want to grab my television and shout 'Hello, dear reporter, yes, America actually does have poor and underprivileged people as well. Hello, yes, the president might well be slow to react but at times like this, that's all that an over-burdened, out-of-touch president can be."

The singer famous for hits such as "You Really Got Me" and "Come Dancing" is reflecting on New Orleans after he was robbed and shot in the Big Easy last year.

As I was carried into the emergency room at Charity hospital, a doctor reassured me that "New Orleans really is the best place to get shot." They had, he explained, had plenty of practice.

The same week I was shot, I read that three other tourists were killed near to where I was attacked. Tourists were urged not to fight back after being mugged (I was continually reminded of this by the district attorney's officials, who were critical of the way I chased the man who robbed my girlfriend).

I have just looked through some notes in the diary I made after I was operated on and one seems chillingly relevant. "How can the USA be expected to look after the whole world when it cannot even look after its own?" So it doesn't surprise me to see the world reacting with shock to the "Third World" conditions in New Orleans "in this, the richest and most powerful country in the world." I could have told them that.

In a first person account in today's London Times, the musician says the flooded streets might seem to be just an American responsibility, "but sometimes even the most powerful people need help."

"Whatever we think of George W. Bush," he said, "we cannot take it out on the poor and needy in Louisiana and Mississippi. (He won't be there in four years – they will.)"