Stopping aid to India

[Annie.]

I like this!
Maybe, just maybe, we can use this money to help out people that Tim slept with the other night ;0))

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[Eagle]

Hi Annie
Good thinking but the Government plus Opposition seem to think that overseas aid most important thing in the Budget.

Wherever it goes it will not be in UK.

[Annie.]

I think we should deal with our own problems ie homelessness, etc first, now that may sound selfish,but how can we justify giving money away to other countries when we have so many needy here?

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[Eagle]

I agree 100%
And also African nations agree. They would rather have access to our markets rather than charity.
Problem is again Brussels , CAP.

All main stream politicians seem united in their determination for the Aid budget to grow. Of course they must know best.

[Annie.]

I hear the "tongue in Cheek" Eagle,
I think it's time the politicians listened to who pays their wages, Do we seriously want to support regimes where violence and discrimination
takes place?
I am fed up with wishy washy people telling us what is best for this country,and then giving our hard earned cash away to a country that even has its own space programme! What idiots we are.

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[14BradfordRoad]

I like this!
Maybe, just maybe, we can use this money to help out people that Tim slept with the other night ;0))

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Hear hear Annie! Totally agree..

[14BradfordRoad]

Interesting letter to UKIP:
http://www.ukip.org/southwest/articles/ ... t-ives-ios

According to link: we actually borrow something like £1.6 BILLION to send aid to India
which has the 11th highest level of national wealth per head of population.

Also reportedly: India’s Finance minister has said in Cabinet, “ that we don’t need the
U. K’s. financial aid. It’s only peanuts!”

The above statements are from this letter so don't know how factual but makes the point!

[Annie.]

Do we send money to Argentina? why?

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[14BradfordRoad]

Do we send money to Argentina? why?

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We certainly do Annie. Why? I cannot understand..

British taxpayers have helped to fund £452million in aid to Argentina — despite its threat
to the Falklands. Argentina has taken the £452million from an international aid fund heavily backed by Britain.
When Argentina threatens the Falkland Islands' sovereignty, why are we giving them financial aid? We should not hand money to a potential enemy, when this money could be used for weapons to attack the Falklands and endanger the islanders and British Forces.

Foreign aid in general: In 2014 British taxpayers will be spending £12.6billion a year on aid while the police budget is projected to fall to £12.1billion following cuts of approximately after cuts of 20%.
This is an example of this Government's attitude to its citizens. They have a duty to keep them safe but here they are cutting back on the police while lavishing funds on aid to countries, some of who don't even want or need it! Madness or what??

[Annie.]

We must be mad.
Would any other country do this, put others before their own? I doubt it!

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[leenewham]

They don't just sent money to india. It goes to NGO's and other organisations.

We currently spend 0.56% of GDP on overseas aid. All countries in the UN signed a pledge to contribute 0.7%.

This is from a charity you may have heard of called 'Save The Children'.
Giving life-saving aid is something we should be proud of. Effective aid has meant:

The number of children not making it to their fifth birthday has fallen from 12 million in 1990 to 6.9 million in 2011.
Between 1999 and 2009, the number of out-of-school primary-aged children came down by 39 million.

The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour have all committed to pledging 0.7% of our national income to international aid by 2013, a promise upheld in the current government’s coalition agreement. Honouring this commitment to the poorest children will ensure progress continues.

For example over the next four years UK aid will:

Support 15.9 million children to go to school
Vaccinate over 80 million children against life-threatening diseases, saving a minimum of 1.4 million lives
Enable 5.6m mothers to give birth in a safe environment, saving the lives of 64,000 women

Aid works for Britain too

International development is good for us here in the UK. Helping other countries develop reduces global insecurity and increases trading opportunities.

It also reduces the costs of conflict - estimated to cost Britain £250 billion a year.

Fact: The UK’s aid programme has made a measurable difference in its 22 priority countries. Here’s some numbers from a single year of DFID’s (not called UK aid) bilateral aid programme (2008-9):
Trained over 150,000 teachers
Built or reconstructed over 9,500 classrooms
Trained over 70,000 health professionals
Vaccinated over 4 million children against measles
Delivered over 6 million anti-malarial bednets
Provided anti-retroviral drugs to over 200,000 people with HIV
Distributed over 400 million condoms
Provided over 2.5 million people with clean water
Provided over 2.5 million people with better sanitation
Built or upgraded 1,500 km of road and maintained a further 14,500 km
Provided new/improved electricity to over 50,000 households
Assisted over 13 million people through food security programmes
Assisted over 3 million people through social assistance programmes

It's publicised in these countries that it comes from the UK.

As with all these things, I'm sure some money is wasted, or some schemes don't work. Google UK aid and you get a raft of Express and Daily mail articles. Dig deeper and you get the balanced view. But the positives outweigh the negatives.

If you have read this far, the I will throw this question out there. If giving aid makes the world more stable, if it saves the UK economy many times what we spend in overseas aid and considering we are one of the countries partly responsible for the mess the world is in today (why didn't we listen to T.E. Lawrence in the MIddle East?), why does it get so much bad press? A hatred of 'Johnny Foreigner'?

My personal view isn't so much how much we give, but how we give it. Micro-finance is proven and helps communities get back on their feet and provide a return. I'd like to see more of that. Invest in the world and it will pay you back. Give it and it will take.

[hilsbee]

Well said Lee!

[Annie.]

I have no objections to "helping" poorer people,but they have to help themselves too,I object to money just being "given" to countries, however to teach them any skills they may need to live a better life I am all for that.
But, giving money to India or any other country that can afford a Space programme? Well I don't think so!
As for being partly responsible for the worlds mess, Sorry,but how many years do we have to keep saying sorry for our past? It's History, lets move on.

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[Robin Orton]

As for being partly responsible for the worlds mess, Sorry,but how many years do we have to keep saying sorry for our past? It's History, lets move on.

So if the mass murderer in the dock says 'Look, I'm sorry, how many times do I have to keep saying it? It's history, let's move on!' , he should go free?

You can only 'move on' when justice has been done. This country built up its infrastructure and its industry, and therefore became rich, largely at the expense of people in other countries whom we exploited (and indeed continue to do so, for example through unfair terms of trade). We owe them something in return.

[Annie.]

I am surprised at you using that analogy Robin.
How many generations do you feel should feel guilt?
I do not personally expect the future generations of Germans to keep feeling guilty over two world wars.
Am I wrong?
I expect the future generations to have learnt from their History, but not to have to keep apologising for the past.

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[Robin Orton]

I don't mind whether or not people feel guilty, and for how long, or whether or not they apologize (though an apology can sometimes be helpful). The important point is that they should do what they can to put things right.

[Annie.]

Not every one thinks like you Robin, its a bit too much "A Fathers Sin being visited upon the son" type of thing for me personally.

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[Robin Orton]

I'm not talking about 'sins being visited' on anybody. All I'm saying is that if we are acting unjustly, or are benefiting from the injustices of earlier generations, we should do something about it.

[Annie.]

I think we should look after our own needy first.
As I said not everyone thinks like you, or indeed like me.

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[leenewham]

Read this: http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2 ... -aid-india