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Cameron off on his jollies once again.
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http://tinyurl.com/3mn52ya
What's really behind this 1 day visit to Pakistan by our globe-trotting PM?
Surely it is not to tell them that we will be increasing our financial aid to them?
We already dish out £200 million a year, In aid to them, and we could see it rise to £446 million a year by 2015.
What's really behind this 1 day visit to Pakistan by our globe-trotting PM?
Surely it is not to tell them that we will be increasing our financial aid to them?
We already dish out £200 million a year, In aid to them, and we could see it rise to £446 million a year by 2015.
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Meeting face to face with leaders of other strategically important nations is an important part of a premier's job.
Of course it's not just Dave; he will have a retinue of civil servants meeting their opposite numbers in Pakistan for mutual benefit. And UK business people will be involved at various stages too. This tangible example of relationship puts UK financial support, investments and business opportunities in Pakistan into context.
Alternatively, we could not bother with any of that and just let the Chinese take over everything.
Of course it's not just Dave; he will have a retinue of civil servants meeting their opposite numbers in Pakistan for mutual benefit. And UK business people will be involved at various stages too. This tangible example of relationship puts UK financial support, investments and business opportunities in Pakistan into context.
Alternatively, we could not bother with any of that and just let the Chinese take over everything.
Apparently the ever-generous Dave has just announced that a further £625m will be made available for "training and education".
Bit of a shame really when the education budget in the UK is being held at £89bn (the same as last year) and thus seeing a cut in real terms of about 4% after inflation is taken into account.
Bit of a shame really when the education budget in the UK is being held at £89bn (the same as last year) and thus seeing a cut in real terms of about 4% after inflation is taken into account.
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I paid for myself.
I cannot recall ever having a "jolly". I've never travelled abroad at anybody else's expense but I have travelled quite a bit in the UK on business. I think the highlight of my travelling career was travelling to Coventry from London once a month, which I did for about three years. Up at 5am, 5:40 train to London, across to Euston on the tube, 7:10am Euston to Wolverhampton (packed out to Milton Keynes, usually have an argument to get possession of reserved seat, no refreshment trolley due to either "technical difficulties" or "staff shortages"). Meeting 9am to 4:30pm then the same shambles in reverse. Some "jolly".
I cannot recall ever having a "jolly". I've never travelled abroad at anybody else's expense but I have travelled quite a bit in the UK on business. I think the highlight of my travelling career was travelling to Coventry from London once a month, which I did for about three years. Up at 5am, 5:40 train to London, across to Euston on the tube, 7:10am Euston to Wolverhampton (packed out to Milton Keynes, usually have an argument to get possession of reserved seat, no refreshment trolley due to either "technical difficulties" or "staff shortages"). Meeting 9am to 4:30pm then the same shambles in reverse. Some "jolly".
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I mentioned it last night and I'll mention it again. Britain (under Brown) committed to spending 0.5% of GDP (think that was the #) on foreign aid, so this is sort of set in stone as the Libs (plus many Tories) said that they want to honour it, being one of the more wealthy nations of the world.
I agree that there is an issue of whether we should renege on this commitment, given the cuts we are undergoing - Views????
However, given we are committed, then Pakistan makes sense given the need to try and deter terrorism and keep them (98%plus) on the moderate Muslim path. And they are a fellow Commonwealth country. Giving money to many others outside the Commonwealth should really be looked at closely.
For the comments about "they have millionaires" - well most countries have some and in all of them, how many of the private individual wealthy are philanthropic; this includes Britain. That is not to say there are not folk, there are many that are amazingly generous overtly or behind scenes acting anonymously to better the society in which we live.
I agree that there is an issue of whether we should renege on this commitment, given the cuts we are undergoing - Views????
However, given we are committed, then Pakistan makes sense given the need to try and deter terrorism and keep them (98%plus) on the moderate Muslim path. And they are a fellow Commonwealth country. Giving money to many others outside the Commonwealth should really be looked at closely.
For the comments about "they have millionaires" - well most countries have some and in all of them, how many of the private individual wealthy are philanthropic; this includes Britain. That is not to say there are not folk, there are many that are amazingly generous overtly or behind scenes acting anonymously to better the society in which we live.
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