New Vocabulary 12: "What a way to run the world"

From Economist, "What a way to run the world," July 3, 2008.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11670305

* prattle: (v) to talk foolishly or childishly for a long time about something unimportant or without saying anything important.

"CLUBS are all too often full of people prattling on about things they no longer know about. "


* in tatters: (1) badly torn, (2) badly damaged or completely spoiled.

"The G8 is not the only global club that looks old and impotent. The UN Security Council has told Iran to stop enriching uranium, without much effect. The nuclear non-proliferation regime is in tatters. "


* dispense: (v) to give out things, especially products, services or amounts of money, to people.

"The critics are right to argue that global organisations should be more focused than they are, but wrong to assume they can be dispensed with altogether."