overseas aid

[sparky]

Is it not strange that  the people that applaud the theft of taxpayers money by the government to squander on overseas aid, are invariably people that would not have the vaguest idea of the need to make ends meet from week to week
( Andrew Mitchell Daily Mail today ) and probably pay little tax themselves with the aid of their clever financial advisers, their one aim is to boost their allready
inflated ego's with our money

[caminito]

This is the privileged prat in charge of the department talking a load of rollocks   
Maybe he should try and manage on a state pension before opening his mouth 

Lavish spending on foreign aid is making Britain a ‘development superpower’ and voters should take the same pride in it as they do in  the Armed Forces and the Queen, a senior minister said yesterday.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell admitted the Coalition was facing ‘bracing’ criticism over its decision to increase aid spending by 34 per cent to £12billion at a time of austerity at home.

But he insisted the money was achieving ‘brilliant’ results and making Britain admired around the world. His comments sparked an angry backlash from Tory MPs last night, with one accusing him of talking ‘complete tosh’.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1395039/Backlash-minister-boasts-Be-proud-12bn-foreign-aid-Army.html#ixzz1Obl3rSAA

[Chrisjay]

I also read this story today with dismay as you say he needs to try living on the basic state pension and see how generous he would feel then

Another worrying thing on the lunchtime news is the government has miscalculated (what a surprise) the cost of student loans to cover the increase in fees by as much as £100 million if not more

Now if those same people would care to talk to us we could tell them how to know to the penny how much money we have and to the penny how much we have to spend - do you think we should volunteer to do their housekeeping books for them 

[cheddar-caveman]

"The UK's £280m-a-year aid to India has become the topic of heated debate this week. Some suggest that a nuclear-armed country with its own space programme and three times as many billionaires as the UK has no place at the top of the aid recipient chart."

Doesn't it just make you sick

[Hugh]

Its pretty clear to me the rich in India have no intention of helping the poor and bringing in a minimum wage. Keeping a pool of cheap labour the rich are getting richer at their expense. They take our aid and rob us of jobs at the same time. Makes my blood boil.

[avalonmpk2]

Just try to change this aid! Ask yourselves this: How many people who are from or descended from people from the Indian sub continent and how many votes do they have in this country and you will see the problem.
I have Irish ancestry so I say (tongue in cheek) lets switch this aid money to Ireland (all 32 counties) it will do more good to the British economy and less likely to befall corruption.
I much prefer the old addage: CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME. pax Britannica

[Chrisjay]

As I have said before I think we should be prepaired to give aid but emergency aid until we have surplus money in the economy after the issues besetting this country are dealt with.

It is ludicrous beyond belief that we are borrowing money to pay overseas aid so we pay aid from money we do not have surplus.

If we all ran our budgets like that ?  Well maybe we should try and further bankrupt the country, there will come a time when this will all come tumbling down around our ears and then this

It is said our finances are on parr with Greece and Ireland and we are trading on our international credit rating so why are we helping bail out Greece and Ireland In actual fact had we not been able to keep the credit rating we would need bailing out

Are Irelands pensioners bothered about being bailed out when they get £300+ per week in pensions and if we got the same would we 

As you say avalonmpk2 we need to look after the people of this country FIRST and then help the rest of the world

Recently the government has found £100 million extra for weekly bin collections, £100 million for extra student loans and £36 million for ethnic groups to fight extremism in groups

[Sheila]

I agree that it is madness to send so much of our money abroad when we are in such a mess.  There was a programme on BBC1 yesterday evening about children being raised in poverty in this country.   I do not have confidence that money sent abroad is going to the right places and being used wisely.

How on earth do we get through to politicians?  I think they live in cloud cuckoo land.

[caminito]

Oxfam has launched an investigation into "financial irregularities" in their flood relief programme in Pakistan.

The problem was discovered in the southern province of Sindh and an independent external audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers is under way and expected to last three to four weeks.

A spokesman for the charity said they would make every effort to recover any missing money.

[Dottie1943]

Whatever happened to that old saying "charity begins at home"?, I also saw that programme yesterday evening Sheila and my heart went out to those children in the programme, what wonderful characters they were each and every one of them, the young boy and girl who lived with their father were well spoken, never seemed to expect anything that dad could not provide and although the boy was ridiculed at school for wearing his sisters blouse and torn trousers he was still a well adjusted child.  Why are our children and pensioners being treated worst than the 3rd world that we are sending monies too, what is happening in this country for Gods sake!!!!!

Dottie

[Chrisjay]

Good question Dottie what indeed!!

[avalonmpk2]

What is happening to this country (of ours?):
Stupid loud mouthed lazy pampered CLERICS the biggest sponger in these islands talking through the wrong orifice!
The myth of Socialism!
And ever open borders
Meddling in other country's business
Not proof reading exam papers to the basic minimum standard
The list is infinite but my time and tolerance in NOT!
Sorry folks!

[Chrisjay]

Oxfam has launched an investigation into "financial irregularities" in their flood relief programme in Pakistan.

The problem was discovered in the southern province of Sindh and an independent external audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers is under way and expected to last three to four weeks.

A spokesman for the charity said they would make every effort to recover any missing money.

Continuing this thread - it was reported yesterday that we give £620 million in aid to Pakistan (all of which we borrow at high interest rates) and they in turn give £600 million away in oversea's aid

Where do we apply?

Surely with the prospect of not being able to heat our homes and eat properly this winter we would qualify as 'third world' in dire need of oversea's aid and support because it is unlikely we will get help this winter from our own government - need to research how we apply

It is also interesting that the term 'foreign aid' is being revised to now 'development aid' so instead of helping to feed and provide medical care we are now developing their governments in order to mitigate the risk of them not doing business with us and assuring trade links- get a grip politicians they will trade with China first America second and us last in the pecking order as we do not produce enough here for it to be of any interest to them doing business with us

[caminito]

I have a more radical suggestion to make. The Coalition's plans to increase the overseas aid budget have come in for considerable criticism. But there is a largely unremarked element to this issue. Ours is an economy chronically short of aggregate demand and overseas aid is spent abroad. My suggestion is that the aid budget is suspended and its resources diverted to domestic spending.

Of course, I would rather that the money were disbursed as tax cuts, or spent on defence. But never mind, as long as it is spent in this country it would help to boost aggregate demand. Apparently, Tory leaders are reluctant to tamper with the aid commitment because it is vital to "decontaminating the brand". Well, I have a suggestion for that. If you must, spend the money on any pet programme favoured by the left. Give it to pensioners or single parents. Or build statues of Neil Kinnock in every town square in the land.

The sums are not peanuts. According to the government's plans, by 2013 the overseas aid budget will reach £12bn, or 0.7pc of GDP. That is £12bn which could be used to increase demand at home. As for decontaminating the brand, I suspect my proposal would be rather popular.

Roger Bootle is managing director of Capital Economics and economic adviser to Deloitte.

[avalonmpk2]

Caminito : Agree your sentiments; but how about giving our hard pressed troops a bonus out of the money saved - bring them all home to guard our borders and stop all illegal immigration and if necessary search every vehicle coming through our ports. Use some of them to check on all benefit outgoings to ensure that they go to people who have the right to them. Reduce University fees on sensible degrees.
All personnel who have been trained by the NHS to pay a substantial amount back towards the cost into the NHS if they work in the private sector - say at the same rate as other students at our universities.