divert foreign aid to flood-hit British families

I won't be signing this either.

I find it hard to believe that some people blame those who "choose" to live in areas that are likely to flood. I really dislike what feels like an increasing tendency to put blame on individuals whenever stuff happens.

I do feel we can criticise successive governments who have failed to act preventatively. Soutra makes an excellent point about offers from the Netherlands to give us advice. Will the money be found? Cuts, cuts and more cuts just don't help do they.

nigglynellie However bad that corruption might be, at least if some of the money gets through it could save lives and assist the poorest nations to get better resources. Your can probably bet that there are of some political gain.

This is not proportionately that much money.

"The UK has committed to meeting an international target to contribute 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) to development aid annually from 2013."

www.ifs.org.uk/budgets/gb2012/12chap7.pdf

They must have a contingency fund for emergencies? Did the aid for foreign disasters come out of the foreign aid budget or from an emergency fund?

They can find it if they want to, then they will have to re-assess budgets for future flood defence work.

They can dig into the war chest or divert tax payers money from other wasteful budgets. When UK citizens start getting cholera or have to drink dirty water that can't be filtered through our sophisticated water systems, I'll begin to think about whether we need to retain any of the foreign aid budget.

No signing from me either. Blaming people for living in areas reclaimed from the sea, be they Somerset levels or the Fens is harsh, I agree. And yet when we were looking for a move after we retired, we looked at areas along rivers and in the Broads, Norfolk- and thought, yes it looks wonderful now, but what if (floods)- and decided against just in case. I knew about the Fens being lower than sea level and reclaimed from the sea, but had not idea it was the same for Somerset Levels. I really hope things will improve very soon.

Families have lived in some of these areas for generations, so I don't think we can say 'shouldn't live on a flood plain then'. This is truly exceptional, but locals in many areas have been telling the 'experts' what needs to be done for a long time.

A stitch in time saves nine is a good adage, and now the government will have to find far more money than they would have spent in prevention and it will cost the economy billions.

Not signing either

I can't understand the mindset of some of you on here, why shouldn't some of this foreign aid be diverted to deal with the pressing problems of our own citizens, most of them will have worked all their life and paid taxes. Most of these people will be struggling, a lady on the radio said she was under insured and didn't know what she was going to do.

People are always quick to complain about cuts to UK services, whilst defending giving money away overseas.

Sorry, but I cannot understand your mindset, ninny. Most foreign aid goes to people who stand to lose everything, and do not have enough money to have anything other than a tinshack to live in, let alone consider insurance.

I'm not signing either,those people in foreign countries have to undergo undiscribable conditions every day of their lives and deserve all the help they can get from foreign aid and I'm glad our Country is in a position to help them.We all pay taxes one way or another and reap the rewards by having services which are some of the best in the world,service's these poor countries can only dream about.

No, I don't expect you do understand us ninny our thinking is poles apart.

It is not an either/or situation - this is the sort of nonsense that the DM loves to set up in people's minds to stir unrest and unhappiness. This is why I do not read it.

The PM has made it quite clear that the help for the flood-ridden areas will come from their contingency fund - all businesses have these for emergencies and GB plc is no different.

It's a question of thinking beyond ourselves, our islands and our various plights, isn't it?

I can understand what you mean, ninny, because so much aid is 'diverted' and misused, and perhaps the idea behind it is to 'borrow' from the foreign aid budget to repay later. I don't know. However, i think the money will all be committed, not just sitting waiting for someone to ask for aid.

But I don't think we are so hard up here, despite some of the messages that come out, that we cannot find the necessary money to do what is needed to rectify and help prevent further flooding. We just need to stop wasting it.

Oh dear, such mixed feelings after reading all this. No, I wouldn't divert any foreign aid but I think I would want to only use it for well monitored projects. I agree that we should not help India while it is spending money as it is but I think that is coming to an end soon anyway.

I believe GB is sending aid on a very cynical basis, we put in where we expect to take out.

I don't understand why we can't divert our excess water in the way they do in the Netherlands. Yes, I know they are flat and we are not but surely we have the engineering skills to divert water higher up our rivers so that it does not flood lower down? It might be expensive in the short term but in the long term would be a good thing and then we would have water to use in the dry years.

I do feel sorry for nearly all the people who are flooded but there was a man on the local news last night who had only moved in to his very large house in October and I don't feel so much sympathy for him. Surely he must have known?

I can understand that the EA has to follow the rules about getting £8 of benefit for every £1 spent but feel this is very hard on anyone not living in a city. Actually Worcester gets cut off all the time and that is a city!

Pumping water is an extremely expensive pastime - it uses a huge amount of energy because it is very heavy - as anyone who has tried carrying just a bucketful upstairs can relate to this. So if its below sea level, its easier said than done.
This article on flooding in the Phillipines, which only very recently was battered by a huge cyclone which left many people starving and with no shelter whatsoever, puts the UK's problems into sharp perspective.
edition.cnn.com/2014/01/22/world/asia/philippines-agaton-flooding-landslides/

Exactly, Jess! We have absolutely no idea.

OK, there are issues with foreign aid, but, as I have said many times, we cannot penalise the sick and the starving because their governments are corrupt.

Cameron is on the BBC news now, promising any amount of money that is needed for flood aid. Let's hope he comes up with something. But the DM's knee jerk reaction is of little help, and only serves to stir up trouble with those who cannot, or will not, comprehend the wider, global picture of human suffering.

These poor folk on the TV now - yes, they have paid their taxes and so on, but from those taxes come the emergency services there, and medical aid, and places to shelter that are being provided.

I wouldn't dream of signing such a disgraceful Little Englander petition.

OK all you people who are keen to divert money - here's a suggestion how about diverting some of our defense budget - Trident springs to mind. What arguments against doing that?

I think Ninny is at liberty to voice her opinion without others moralising and pontificating on their high moral horses and behaving as if what she has said is somehow horrifying and totally unpalatable . I'm not awfully sure that taking from foreign aid is the right way forward but I'm happy to hear and discuss reasonably with someone who thinks differently to me. .I certainly think any aid should be carefully monitored to make sure that it goes to the appropriate programme and not into some tyrants coffers for his/hers particular purposes as so often happens.

DH was in agreement with Ninny when i asked his opinion, not to take aid from those who need it, but because of the huge amount of waste and corruption. He thinks enough could be found by more careful control of the spending of the aid money to start putting a programme of real flood defences in place.

Is it really necessary to bring such harsh condemnation of other people's opinions into this discussion, nigglynellie?

ninny has expressed her opinion clearly, and it is being debated. It is not what she says that is provoking comment - it is, essentially, the article from the DM which is doing that.

I think many of us have actually been reasonably moderate in our responses to an article which is frankly disgraceful.

I won't be signing. There is no reason why money can't be spent to help people affected by the floods as well as to help people in other countries who are in dire need.

It was reported on Newsnight tonight that the government is committed to spending an initial amount of £2.4 billion on 14 fighter jets. There's always plenty of money for the military machine and other grandiose projects.

Did anyone see the fascinating account of British military genius and inventiveness in Afghanistan that was aired on Top Gear recently? Regardless of one's view of the war there, the engineering was impressive. Some of the invention will be used in civil engineering build as well. War has always spurred human inventiveness – necessity the mother of invention and all that.

Not an apology for war, just a bare fact.