How Much Should We Spend On Defence?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31857044
Given that we spend almost half of what we spend on defence on giving money to rich people in poor countries, is it time to get our priorities right?

[retrocop]

Gromit
We are not alone in sending overseas aid to other non-European couintries!!
http://www.bnp.org.uk/news/eu-countries-increase-foreign-aid-%c2%a347-billion-despite-economic-turmoil

[retrocop]

Rather gratifying to read what worthy causes our hard earned tax contributions are spent on in other countries with such great largesse.
NHS in crisis.What crisis.?

[retrocop]

sorry for above post
Where Britain's aid money goes

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Program to make PE lessons more “meaningful and exciting” in 20 countries including Malaysia, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey, following London 2012 Olympics.

Cost: £8.35m over four years

Department of Energy and Climate Change

Program to reduce “greenhouse gas emissions from cattle ranching” in Colombia.

Cost: £15m over four years

Department of Energy and Climate Change

Renewable energy and low-carbon transport projects in Chile, India, Nigeria and Turkey.

Cost: £75m.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Britain contributes to Europeaid, the EU’s aid program. Projects including equipping border guards in Belarus, a dictatorship, and funding a waterpark in Morocco.

Cost: £1bn a year

Department for International Development

Yegna, a girlband dubbed the Ethiopian ‘Spice Girls’, is intended to empower teenage girls through song.

Cost: £3.8m a year.

Department for International Development

Trademark Southern Africa, intended to boost commerce, was swiftly shut down by Mrs Greening after watchdog found officials earning more than £100,000 and cash being administered by Zimbabwean regime.

Cost: £100m.






Sponsored by Aldi

[Prudie]

I haven't much of a view on Foreign Aid but don't see what it has to do with Defence spending. The cuts in Defence have already put our nation at risk IMO and the idea of laying down arms and asking USA to look after us is insulting. We are our own nation - and having worked for MOD for many years I can vouch that despite the assumption we now live in peaceful times our forces have been called upon repeatedly - you never know what's round the corner (and the vast majority of spend does not go on nuclear deterrents).

[ToraToraTora]

UK WSS spending £120bn

[Deskdiary]

If the examples in Retrocop's post at 2.22pm are true (I have no reason to believe they are not) then some of our aid budget is being spent on absurd things.

Naively, I rather think if we are going to send aid money abroad, it should be spent on aid - not on empowering girls through song.

[Gromit]

// UK WSS spending £120bn //

What is WSS?

[retrocop]

Try guessing that it might mean Work shy scroungers.You don't have to be daft to work that one out Gromit. or do you??

[Peter Pedant]

// The point is that the money spent is spent well, although what the hell that actually means in this case I don't know. //

That was macnamara during the Vietnam war - you probably know him from Macnamara's fallacy

to be exact - when you spend a billion dollars it is difficult to get your moneys worth... 1965 I think

[naomi24]

Yes, it is time to get our priorities right. Altruism is commendable but in the present climate the security of this country and its people should be our priority. After all, if we come to grief the aid we give to poorer countries stops anyway.

[Gromit]

Tora x 3,

UK welfare spending is to be capped at £120bn.
You call the people who receive that money Work Shy Scum.
If you bothered to look, you would find that nearly half of that money is old age pension payments, i.e. People who paid into the system all their lives.
Jobseekers is just 3% of the £120bn.