Ghurkas

[Gennaio]

Sky news has announced this evening that 150 Ghurkas are to be made redundant from the British Army, against their will.

These proud, loyal soldiers are again being trodden down. 

Despicable treatment.

Best wishes

[Dottie1943]

Gennaio

I quiet agree but it will not only be the Ghurkas but a lot of service men and women who have recently been in Afganistan etc laying their lives on the line and then coming back to be made redundant, talk about being used and abused!!!

The Ghurkas are as you say a wonderful group of people and they beat the government over one thing so the government will beat them in another way!

[Papaumau]

Yes the Gurkhas have been dealt with abominably by successive British governments and I was not one bit surprised to see that they too would be hit by compulsory redundancies in this slash-and-burn exercise in order to save money.

They were treated like second-class soldiers until the campaign called Gurkha Justice took hold and was given backing by a large percentage of the British people. Joanna Lumly raised their cause into the public eye so well that the government were forced to change their minds on what pensions they should receive after their terms of service were done.

Now in these days of wars in the middle East we are seeing the services being slashed again.

I worry that if these cuts are not stopped Britain is going to finish up with no armed forces to speak of when international threats come knocking at our door.

See THIS

[Rita Postlethwaite]

Watching the programme about 9/11 on tv last night it stated that the Americans acknowledged, after the event, that they had made a big mistake in reducing their armed forces and were worried that they could not protect their own country or citizens. Does that ring any bells? 

[Dottie1943]

I know I am going off topic but that programme last night Rita was so sad both Roy and I were openly crying when you saw the footage and heard the true accounts and that New York
Mayor was so active he put our people to shame no wonder the people of NY admire him so much!

[Thesheriff]

Sorry folks but you do not seem to understand the economics of the situation.

The Government cannot keep giving money to all the people who arrive at these shores from other countries - and give money to people who have never worked in their lives or contributed in any way to the upkeep of the country - and give millions away not each year -  but each month -  to other countries in the form of Oversea Aid  - without making cuts somewhere - and making cuts to these places I have just mentioned will not make them look good - it may make sense the the rest of the population - but not them.

Hopefully they will not regret these stupid decisions being made ??

Soon we may be back to the days of Dad's Army  where Brush Stales are used as rifle substitutes  - because there are only 6 available for the soldiers to use.

As someone posted elsewhere with regards to the UK's Oil situation - the problem is the Oil is under the North Sea & all the Dipsticks are sat in the House of Parliament.

[Papaumau]

I think we were talking about the Gurkhas Sheriff !

This group of loyal soldiers have fought and many have died for British ideals for many years and they are in turn treated abominably.

I think that if a foreign force such as the Gurkhas are willing to adopt the British standard and fight for our freedoms that they should be fully integrated as honourary Brits and given full status in this country. They have earned this status.

Like the Scottish soldiers I often see the Gurkhas being the first fighters shoved right up to the front of OUR conflicts all around the world.

[Thesheriff]

Papaumau,

I was also referring to the Gurkha s & other Soldiers  who are being made redundant - so that the dipsticks in London can still have enough of your  money to keep giving it away to all parts of the world except the UK.

[Papaumau]

Sheriff.....

I think that what both of us are doing here is discussing what is wrong or right as we see it.

I have already made clear that I feel that the Gurkahs have EARNED the right to be accepted as honorary British citizens, with all that that entails.

Incidentally I also feel that as Britain is a VERY rich country, ( sadly most of these riches are in the hands of just a very few of the top individuals ), there is no reason why we cannot do right by both our own poor and sick and old people AND do right by the starving and sick people - especially children - dying around the world at the same time. In other-words the argument of "charity begins at home", while correct, does not say that this charity can not also go abroad to those that desperately need it too, if we can afford it.

[Thesheriff]

Papaumau,

Unfortunately millions of the money we give to these countries to relieve the quality of life for their sick and starving children  never reaches the place it was intended to go - as we have seen in a recently published survey - much of it ends up in the Bank Accounts of the Dictators who run the countries.

One of these - a leader of one of the poorest with the most problems - it was disclosed owns 26 high class properties in France !!!!! with many others having properties there and in other parts of the world.

All the suffering seems to come as a result of the wars - these tribes are always fighting - and I do not use ' Tribes ' in a derogatory sense - every one of these countries has many tribes making up their population - and these tribes have always been bitter enemies every since time began - the only time there was peace between them was when they were ruled by Britain.

I personally do not think there is anyone of these countries - who clamoured for Self Rule - kicked the British out - who has made a success of running their own country - every one of them - since  Britain left them to it - has been constantly troubled by internal tribal wars between the two strongest tribes - now renamed Political Parties.

I doubt very much whether the suffering of these families and children would alter one iota if we stopped all aid to them - it is /has been suggested that only a small % of the money donated to the numerous charities that are constantly clamouring for money from the UK population - ever gets past the UK shores.

In one last appeal for £40 Million required to provide Food & Tents etc. is was disclosed that this Charities Warehouse's were overstocked with these items - and when asked why it was not on it's way - the reply was ' We want to get the biggest part of the £ 40 mill in first '

I've just realised that my statement about fighting Wars while not seeming to bother about the plight of families & children suffering at home -  can be applied to the UK at present and for the last 20 years ??

[Papaumau]

Yes Sheriff....The foreign aid systems are very flawed as - as you rightly say -  much of the monies that are gathered from rich Western countries DO get lost in the vagiaries of the bureucratic procedures in these war and poverty ravaged countries. That is probably why much more money is not given to such charitable institutions.

That aside, that is not a good enough reason to NOT give foreign aid, especially if this aid actually helps these folk to help themselves.

There are charitable groups that are very efficient when they do what they do abroad and it is these groups that are more able to actually take the aid direct to where it is needed rather than the money we give simply being lost into the offshore accounts of dictators and warmongers. 

[Dottie1943]

The other day I heard on the radio about a scheme called Micro Finance and it seemed to be able to by pass the people at the top and helps those at. The bottom of the food chain.

I was amazed at how well it worked and that approx 90% of the money is paid back, people were borrowing say £90/100 and opening up their own stores/kiosks and selling goods at reasonable prices to those in the villages where they lived, others were starting their own little cottage industries with this same help thus helping the community by employing local people.

Fantastic idea and so easy.

[Rita Postlethwaite]

 Hi Dottie,It is always a good idea to help people who want to help themselves as they have an incentive and it is win, win all around.

[Dottie1943]

Hi Dottie,It is always a good idea to help people who want to help themselves as they have an incentive and it is win, win all around.

Rita what amazed me was the maximum amount of money they ever loaned was £200 and they paid it back, no interest was charged, and those in the village that were having problems the others stepped in and helped as well to pay it back.

What they needed was a bank account and the charities helped in this respect as well by setting up the accounts for them.

[Papaumau]

While I again agree that that sound like a good idea done properly, that idea raises two questions that need to be addressed:

1). If these authorities want to keep doing this they surely need to have their own income so that they can continue to do this good work long after the foreign aid has dried up. ( We in Britain and across the Capitalistic world know this as Credit Unions as they are self-sustainable after some careful handling of the money ).

2). We in the developed and Capitalist countries know that the working banks  - even the Credit Unions - have to charge a rate of interest in order to make enough money to exist and to grow but in many places across the world this "usury" is considered to be a sin and against all religious precepts.