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Chancellor cuts International Aid budget

(121 Posts)
ixion Thu 26-Nov-20 10:39:43

He says that, in this time of 'unprecedented crisis', he can't justify the commitment.
Do you agree?

lemongrove Fri 27-Nov-20 23:09:12

Yes, exactly so.

Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 23:07:13

Like they believe stuff posted on GN.

lemongrove Fri 27-Nov-20 22:59:35

That was obvious Maizie once I had taken a look at the link.
Cameron isn’t on my Christmas card list ( understatement of the year) but in the top ten of corrupt politicians ! ?
The trouble is with these online rubbishy things is that some people will believe it.

MaizieD Fri 27-Nov-20 20:40:41

Callistemon

It has to be a joke?
???

The original post about David Cameron was a wind up...

Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 17:57:22

It has to be a joke?
???

Firecracker123 Fri 27-Nov-20 17:55:17

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petra Fri 27-Nov-20 17:48:49

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Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 17:39:11

X post, LauraNorder

Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 17:38:43

I should clarify my post:

The amount would have been less anyway as GDP has dropped; that is without cutting it to 0.5%.

LauraNorder Fri 27-Nov-20 17:34:04

As a percentage of GDP we would be giving so much less anyway so a slash in percentage rate is devastating for poor countries.
Foreign aid benefits all of us.
We do need to find a better distribution route so that corrupt officials don’t benefit and we do need to review our contribution to countries like China and India who have the wherewithal to look after there own.
As for charity beginning at home, if I can afford to give my children three meals a day and one for a child in need and I then lose some income now I can only afford to give to mine. Do I fed mine and let the child in need starve or do I give my children two meals a day and continue to feed the other child one meal a day?

Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 17:30:48

It will be less anyway as it is a percentage, not a set amount.

Gwyneth Fri 27-Nov-20 17:26:34

Yes I agree with the decision by the Chancellor at this time. I also think there should be far more monitoring of the aid given to ensure it gets to the people who really need it.

Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 17:14:36

I have never said that Foreign Aid should be cut.

Not only misconstruing, deliberately or otherwise, but fictonalising now.
Not for the first time, I might add.

I ask again - why?

MaizieD Fri 27-Nov-20 16:40:39

Just think what that extra money could do for needy people if it was not siphoned off by corrupt officials.
Or do you think that's par for the course, acceptable?

Now who's misinterpreting posts?

Did you miss the bit about some of the foreign aid being used to eliminate corruption? That corruption won't go away of its own accord so we have to deal with it?

And you're still making a mountain out of a very small proportion of the aid being siphoned off. If we didn't try to do something about it and we cut the aid, that 7% will still be siphoned off. So what has been achieved? Even less for the disadvantaged. Great thinking, eh?

lemongrove Fri 27-Nov-20 15:24:02

Probably a far left blogger Firecracker ?

Firecracker123 Fri 27-Nov-20 14:44:39

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Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 14:30:19

Yes, that too, paddyanne

I don't know if that is corruption or just sheer incompetence on the part of officials in some cases.

paddyanne Fri 27-Nov-20 14:28:28

Isn't that what teh Tory government have been doing here ? Siphoning BILLIONS into the pockets of friends and family ...wonder how much will make its way into bank accounts offshore belonging to cabinet ministers and MP's ...You dont have to look abroad for corrupt politicians and NOTHING is being done about it.It has largely been ignored by the media .I wonder why that is ?

Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 14:21:35

Shame on the mean mindedness of people who make this sort of statement an excuse for withdrawing help from the poorest and weakest people on this planet.

As usual misinterpreting posts MaizieD
Why?

What I said was:

The Overseas Aid Budget should be much better targeted and overseen as much of the money does get diverted from the purposes for which it was intended and disappears into the hands of corrupt officials along the way
One reason why there should be more scrutiny

Just think what that extra money could do for needy people if it was not siphoned off by corrupt officials.
Or do you think that's par for the course, acceptable?

MaizieD Fri 27-Nov-20 13:50:24

You'll love this, then, Firecracker. David Cameron named in the top ten of the world's most corrupt politicians grin

www.wonderslist.com/10-most-corrupt-politicians/

Firecracker123 Fri 27-Nov-20 13:44:05

Well if Roberto Saviano says so it must be true lol what a load of tripe.

MaizieD Fri 27-Nov-20 12:40:45

Sorry, maths at fault 92.5%, not 93%

MaizieD Fri 27-Nov-20 12:40:05

The report’s authors estimated that an average of 7.5 per cent of the aid handed to any given country was stolen by its elites

Which means that 93% of it is reaching its target. This isn't even a 'glass half full or half empty' situation. It's glass nearly full to the brim with a bit spilling out. Shame on the mean mindedness of people who make this sort of statement an excuse for withdrawing help from the poorest and weakest people on this planet.

And if my links have been read the reader will see that part of our aid budget is devoted to measures to eliminate corruption (because it aint just going to go away on its own).

It would be interesting if aid agencies were to devote some international funding to the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK. Heaven knows, our own government isn't going to do it, are they? Despite the fact that we were, supposedly, the 5th richest country in the world. How much outcry in other nations would there be about the fact that we have a nuclear deterrent, etc. etc?

Oh, and for all the smuggies, the UK is reckoned to be the most corrupt countries in the world.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/roberto-saviano-britain-corrupt-mafia-hay-festival-a7054851.html

Jane10 Fri 27-Nov-20 12:14:26

shock and sad

Callistemon Fri 27-Nov-20 12:11:17

www.gov.uk/government/news/save-the-children-uk-can-bid-for-government-funding-again-after-improving-safeguarding-standards

One reason why there should be more scrutiny.

It has been reported also that foreign aid money (not necessarily from the UK) has found its way into Swiss bank accounts.
Jordan has come first in a list of countries that appear to have siphoned huge amounts of foreign aid into offshore bank accounts.
The resource-poor Middle Eastern country, which is hosting about two million Syrian refugees, received £2.13 billion in foreign aid in 2018-19 including £110 million from Britain, one of its biggest donors
An analysis by the World Bank, however, found that $3.13 billion was moved out of the country and into offshore accounts, mostly in tax havens such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands, over a ten-year period that coincided with a rise in foreign donations. The report’s authors estimated that an average of 7.5 per cent of the aid handed to any given country was stolen by its elites

Jassar al Tahat, Amman | Hannah Lucinda Smith, Istanbul
Tuesday May 19 2020, 12.01am, The Times

In the meantime, the Syrian refugees suffer.