All This Cash, From A Country That Cannot Afford To Look After It's Own Elderly?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/744154/Theresa-May-pledges-foreign-aid-money-Syria-Aleppo-rebels-Assad-Russia

Four random headlines from September of this year.

UK Government promises extra £103mn aid to South Sudan

Britain pledges £750m to help improve the lives of Afghans

Theresa May to send hundreds of troops to Somalia and £660 million ...

Theresa May commits £750 million to help tackle migrant crisis

Just in those 5 examples I make that £2,283 million

[Jackdaw33]

4 examples, not 5

[sunny-dave]

How many more times do we need to reiterate - it's peanuts, peanuts, peanuts.

The fact that the numbers are big is only because they are a tiny fraction of a much, much bigger number (our national income).

The target is 0.7% - if we bring that down to a personal level it is the same as a person on £20,000 per year net income giving £140 to charity - I'd be embarrassed if that was all I gave.

[Gromit]

AOG,
We have been bombing the *** out of Syria for months. How much do you think the bombs and planes and navy cost to maintain our support of Islamists in Syria. I expect it is a lot more than £20million.

May is a complete hypocrite. The crisis in Aleppo is due to the UK and US/Saudi/Gulf states financing and supporting Islamist fighters again the Syrian Government. Without that aid, there would have been no seige in Aleppo, and the poor residents would not be in any crossfire.

[ToraToraTora]

0.7% is £12billion, that's a lot to give to foreigners. It's the same as we pay the EU F/F/S, dave you must be very rich if £12bn is peanuts to you.

[ichkeria]

That is utter drivel with respect gromit
Were you on the moon with Khandro!
You two are a fine example of what Labour MP Steven Doughty condemned in the commons the other day: broad left and far right wingers apologising for brutal regimes. It needs to be challenged

Foreign Aid?
Yes it's relative peanuts, yes it's needed
But it definitely needs a good handle on exactly where it goes

[sunny-dave]

Again - trying to baffle us with huge meaningless numbers.

The total budget is less than £200 per UK inhabitant - as Gromit says, much of it is repair damage that we have been complicit in causing.

[ToraToraTora]

12billion is peanuts ich? right oh!

[ToraToraTora]

just doing arithmetic dave.

[ichkeria]

I was echoing sunny Dave and adding the word 'relative'

[sunny-dave]

And yes - some of our aid is wasted, some is mis-directed and some is corrupted ...

... but that means we need better controls, rather than a kneejerk 'stop it all now' strop.

[ichkeria]

Indeed Dave

[Bigbad]

sunny-dave @ 15.45.
That amount of money is not peanuts, and when we as individuals, give to charity, at least we get to choose which charity to donate to.

[ichkeria]

Which is precisely why we need foreign aid! Otherwise it would all go to cats homes and cancer charities

[ToraToraTora]

right so the amount we give in foriegn "aid" is 12 billion and that is peanuts but the 12 billion we give to the EU is enough for us to leave! right oh!

[anotheoldgit]

Jackdaw33

/// 4 examples, not 5 ///

5 with the link offer.

[Bigbad]

ichkeria @ 16.05
I would rather it went to cats homes and cancer charities than a load of backwards uneducable people who do nothing to help themselves.

“Britain pledges £750m to help the lives of Afghans”
I wonder how many cancer patients lives could be improved with that amount of money.

Time to make foreign aid personal charitable donations only.
I’m sure they would raise plenty - enough people give to that Comic Relief charity and all it’s spin-offs.

[Gromit]

ichkeria

// left and far right wingers apologising for brutal regimes. //

You think Islamic State and the Islamist fighters we have been supporting would be less brutal than Assad, if they had been successful in taking over Syria?

[sunny-dave]

I'll be happy to see Foreign Aid funded by a Comic Relief style appeal - just as soon as Trident is funded the same way.

Now that would help look after a few OAPs.

[ToraToraTora]

but 12billion is peanuts dave so you would not begrudge spending that on other projects too would you?

[Bigbad]

Whatever you think of Trident, it is at least there for the ‘benefit’ of the UK.
Foreign aid is taking funding away from the UK.