Foriegn Aid :-- Discuss

bearfraser

Pay freezes ,pensioners unable to feed/heat themselves,the country is broke , etc. etc. and yet we are about to increase our "Aid" by 37% to £21billion. Appreciate that SOME is going to worthy causes but why to Nuclear Power states such as "India" :---- Discuss ??

rick_chasey

Appreciate that SOME is going to worthy causes but why to Nuclear Power states such as "India" :---- Discuss ??

The colonial legacy presumably.

Dave Cornwall

We give them money. In return, we get their roads!

It's not that I mind giving aid, but the fact we are borrowing money to do it. Sort ourselves out first please politicians!

EKE_38BPM

I find it hard to square giving money to a country with a nuclear weapons programme or a space programme.
The colonial legacy argument doesn't always carry weight. Britain never colonised mainland China and we've given back the bit we did have (Hong Kong), but we still give them money. To me that seems as dumb as buying my next door neighbour a new kitchen when I can't buy myself a takeaway.

Some countries need aid and I can understand giving it to them, but I don't like the idea of giving aid to a country better off than us or who use a large chunk of money on non-essentials when they haven't sorted out the essentials yet.

finchy

We give them money, they give us access to markets, resources, buy our arms etc.

It's self-interest dressed up as morality.

markos1963

No to countries with nuclear/space programs but I have no problem with aid to poor countries. I especially applaude the vaccination program announced.
We tend to forget we live in a very rich country compared to most and what we regard as poor in this country is super rich elsewhere.

Stewie Griffin

johnfinch wrote:

We give them money, they give us access to markets, resources, buy our arms etc.

It's self-interest dressed up as morality.

What he said.

Frank the tank

I too find it hard to square giving handouts to countries with nuclear/space programmes. I've not really got a problem with foreign aid to poor nations but why do we have to give so much. Other countries are more prosperous than us but don't give out anything like as much as us in aid.

In these hard times especially, charity begins at home.

Cleat Eastwood

Send then Honey Shotz.

mjclements

Clearly the country isn't as skint as the lying bstards in whitehall would have us believe.
Apologies to Rick Mayall

jim453

Also,

What about the strange situation where we pay x million pounds in aid to country A who in turn has an arrangement with country B to pay them aid etc etc

Crazy really, but maybe the more times absolutely vast sums of money change hands, the more opportunity there is for some unscrupulous individuals to cream off a little for whatever reason without being too obvious.

Anonymous

Fcuk 'em.

verylonglegs

I'm not fussed about nationality, I would just rather aid went to someone who appreciated it and grasped the opportunity to make something better for themselves. From my own experience recently this country has a lot of overweight folk moaning about food price inflation...now that irks me.

SmellTheGlove

"Enlightened" self-interest, but largely buggered as a model: on the one hand the thinking goes, spend enough on aid and it will keep the would-be immigrant numbers down. Improve local agriculture or help set up businesses, reduce incentive for working age males with minimal education to leave in droves and look for work abroad.
On the other hand, there's always some eejit braying "WE MUST ATTRACT THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST" which implies cherry picking the very people (PhDs etc) who should have the greatest incentive to remain in their countries and improve the lot of their fellows. We help drain a place like Libya of its talent and then wonder why the opposition to Qaddafi is at best half as capable as it should be.
The system is f()cked - discuss.

BarryBonds

dmclite wrote:

Fcuk 'em.

wot he grunted +1

BarryBonds

f uck the immigrants turn em round and fuck em off

EKE_38BPM

BarryBonds wrote:

f uck the immigrants turn em round and fark em off

Is that all immigrants or just the ones you don't like, or is that all immigrants?
Do kids of immigrants born in the UK count as immigrants?
Does the level of acheivement reduce how much you see them as immigrants (Nasser Hussain MBE, Dame Kelly Holmes, Philips Idowu MBE, Joan Armatrading MBE)
Does Graeme Hick (MBE) get a special dispensation?
Just trying to judge the level of your bigotry.

Frank the tank

EKE_38BPM wrote:

BarryBonds wrote:

f uck the immigrants turn em round and fark em off

Is that all immigrants or just the ones you don't like, or is that all immigrants?
Do kids of immigrants born in the UK count as immigrants?
Does the level of acheivement reduce how much you see them as immigrants (Nasser Hussain MBE, Dame Kelly Holmes, Philips Idowu MBE, Joan Armatrading MBE)
Does Graeme Hick (MBE) get a special dispensation?
Just trying to judge the level of your bigotry.

The only thing preventing BB getting a column in the Daily Smail is he's too right wing.

EKE_38BPM

Maybe the steroids shrivled his nuts and now he's bitter?

Yossie

EKE_38BPM wrote:

BarryBonds wrote:

f uck the immigrants turn em round and fark em off

Is that all immigrants or just the ones you don't like, or is that all immigrants?
Do kids of immigrants born in the UK count as immigrants?
Does the level of acheivement reduce how much you see them as immigrants (Nasser Hussain MBE, Dame Kelly Holmes, Philips Idowu MBE, Joan Armatrading MBE)
Does Graeme Hick (MBE) get a special dispensation?
Just trying to judge the level of your bigotry.

Agree 500% with EKE - does this include western European immigrants or just eastern European (the latest figures of bigotry, although the majority of ones I've met are actually quite nice, work bloody hard and put up with a lot of crap)? Does this mean (to use a stereotypical base setting example that I apologise for) that I can longer have Italian/French waiters and chefs down my local restaurants although they are fantastic at their jobs and make every meal a pleasure? Can my children no longer be taught foreign languages by native speakers? Can the Spanish bloke at the shop down the market who sells really nice salami and olives have to leave as well?

Theoretically though, this could mean that the English would have to drive out the Southern Irish, Welsh and Scottish from England: for surely post Welsh/Scottish parliaments and the devolution discussions it means that they want to be separate countries. The Southern Irish obviously are immigrants per se, so should we get rid of them straight away? Then we have the tricky question of the Northern Irish - do we have to ask everyone of them whether they are Royalists or Republicans and then decide on their fates dependant on their answer?

I use the word "drive" for that is what it would be. Then again, bigots aren't generally very intelligent, so it would be like a really badly organised pogrom, but with more Burberry, hooped earrings and cans of lager.

As above, we also have the tricky situation of 2nd/3rd etc generation immigrants - get rid of them as well?

And then who would fill their jobs and make up the deficit in GDP and taxes they pay?

While we're at it, lets turn our backs on the descendants of the thousands of people who fought and died under the British flag in the past few wars - after all, they are immigrants as well surely? After all, the Poles weren't too bad in the battle of Britain (for example).

verylonglegs

Yossie wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

BarryBonds wrote:

f uck the immigrants turn em round and fark em off

Is that all immigrants or just the ones you don't like, or is that all immigrants?
Do kids of immigrants born in the UK count as immigrants?
Does the level of acheivement reduce how much you see them as immigrants (Nasser Hussain MBE, Dame Kelly Holmes, Philips Idowu MBE, Joan Armatrading MBE)
Does Graeme Hick (MBE) get a special dispensation?
Just trying to judge the level of your bigotry.

Agree 500% with EKE - does this include western European immigrants or just eastern European (the latest figures of bigotry, although the majority of ones I've met are actually quite nice, work bloody hard and put up with a lot of crap)? Does this mean (to use a stereotypical base setting example that I apologise for) that I can longer have Italian/French waiters and chefs down my local restaurants although they are fantastic at their jobs and make every meal a pleasure? Can my children no longer be taught foreign languages by native speakers? Can the Spanish bloke at the shop down the market who sells really nice salami and olives have to leave as well?

Theoretically though, this could mean that the English would have to drive out the Southern Irish, Welsh and Scottish from England: for surely post Welsh/Scottish parliaments and the devolution discussions it means that they want to be separate countries. The Southern Irish obviously are immigrants per se, so should we get rid of them straight away? Then we have the tricky question of the Northern Irish - do we have to ask everyone of them whether they are Royalists or Republicans and then decide on their fates dependant on their answer?

I use the word "drive" for that is what it would be. Then again, bigots aren't generally very intelligent, so it would be like a really badly organised pogrom, but with more Burberry, hooped earrings and cans of lager.

As above, we also have the tricky situation of 2nd/3rd etc generation immigrants - get rid of them as well?

And then who would fill their jobs and make up the deficit in GDP and taxes they pay?

While we're at it, lets turn our backs on the descendants of the thousands of people who fought and died under the British flag in the past few wars - after all, they are immigrants as well surely? After all, the Poles weren't too bad in the battle of Britain (for example).

It's safe to say you are well and truly in barrys net!

bagpusscp

Hmm.
Try .....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso

EKE_38BPM

verylonglegs wrote:

It's safe to say you are well and truly in barrys net!

Sticking with BB's baseball derived name, I think he's hit us out of the park!

MrChuck

bearfraser wrote:

why to Nuclear Power states such as "India"

If that is, in fact, their real name...

Anyway, article on the BBC on this very subject from a couple of months back:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12607537

BarryBonds

EKE your liberal self hating politics dont interest me but in answer to your question yes all of them.

finchy

BarryBonds wrote:

EKE your liberal self hating politics dont interest me but in answer to your question yes all of them.

You'll be chucking my Hungarian girlfriend out over my dead body.

guinea

MrChuck wrote:

bearfraser wrote:

why to Nuclear Power states such as "India"

If that is, in fact, their real name...

Anyway, article on the BBC on this very subject from a couple of months back:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12607537

India disgusts me.

The place is a dirty hole whith no proscepts of getting any better. There is a lot of money in India but it's the most unequal place I've ever visited.

I was there on business and the caste/class system of prejudice is completely inhumane and really shocked me. There is a sense that if you're poor, you deserve it. There is no chance to escape it. If you are born poor, you are pretty much guaranteed to die poor.

People with money play the game. Why change when you're on to a winner? The attitude of the middle class is terrible. It's like they don't see what's around them.

Also, corruption is rife meaning you have to pay a bribe for anything.

EKE_38BPM

BarryBonds wrote:

EKE your liberal self hating politics dont interest me but in answer to your question yes all of them.

I don't hate myself. I think I'm fucking brilliant.
Did the steroids shrivel your nuts or is that the size they've always been? Is that where all the hate comes from?
Chill out man. Go and have a curry or a Chinese or a kebab. Maybe you prefer a bit of Jerk Chicken?
Wash it down with some vodka or a nice glass of wine.
Or perhaps some Bolivian Marching Powder is more your bag.

Nah, I guess you are more of a fish and chips wrapped in yesterdays newspaper and warm bitter kinda guy.

Well, I don't know about warm, but you definitely seem bitter.

SmellTheGlove

From BBC report listed above:

"The government is expected to freeze the level of assistance given to India at £295m ($480m) a year."
...
"India is itself a foreign aid donor, providing more than £300m ($500m) to poorer countries in 2008."

Revolving door, anyone? Now I'm wondering where the £295m came from in the first place. EU handout maybe? Ah, I was forgetting, we don't get anything from Brussels...

Anonymous

My post was firmly in cheek, BTW.

Foreign aid is used in many ways and is a good thing. We do not realise how good we have it in the UK and should thank our lucky stars we live here .

finchy

dmclite wrote:

My post was firmly in cheek, BTW.

Foreign aid is used in many ways and is a good thing. We do not realise how good we have it in the UK and should thank our lucky stars we live here .

Too late, you're on my black list of suspected Nazis.