Forum Topic

Overseas aid - and the west country severe problems

Perhaps this is the time for the Government to stop giving aid to overseas countries (let their corrupt Governments sort out their own problems) and give some aid to those producing our food in the west country.The Environment Department should be ashamed of themselves. Contingency planning doesn't appear to be on their agenda. Has the world gone mad.Charity begins at home..............don't you think?

Dee Cook ● 4601d15 Comments

Yes Dee - perhaps we should stop giving overseas aid.But to be  absolutely clear - that would mean saying no in future to some of the millions of people who are alive globally as a result of previous disaster emergency relief and public health programmes (such as anti-malarial campaigns etc.) It would mean scaling down or perhaps not responding at all to the Haiti's, Taclobans and Asian Tsunami emergencies. It might mean  doing less work on the millions of young girls who currently undergo Female Genital Mutilation - which is now a key recipient of Government aid.Now I am not saying it would be wrong to divert this money to the Somerset levels (which is a terrible disaster but as far as I know no-one has died yet)But what I am saying is if you do that - do it in full knowledge of the consequences that might follow. We are one of the richest nations on the planet - and although there are admittedly many, many problems with aid - our money goes a long long way.

Richard Grange ● 4601d

My own experiences are that The Environment Agency has only one thing on their Agenda - Themselves.I have seldom met a bigger bunch of pen pushing, careerist  and utterly useless Civil Servants who endlessly talk the talk and have no idea of how to go about actually doing their job - let alone anything meaningful and constructive. Many (most/all?) areas of the EA's "responsibilities" should be handed over to District/Local Councils.IMHO.

Rosco White ● 4601d

Dee, I mentiononed this on the Ealing Forum recently but only 1 person made a comment about it.I was also of the opinion that it is about time we helped the people who have been flooded for weeks. This country is the front of the queue giving overseas aid - time to help our own now!I also wrote to Angie Bray on the same topic.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4601d

Actually a 7 year old boy died due to fumes from a pump when his father was trying to pump the water from their property, the parents are seriously ill.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4601d

And it would seem to be a good idea that the HS2 rail link should be forgotten and money put into improving links to the west country

Nina Battleday ● 4601d

Is it not true however that our Governments always have an emergency budget each year for unforeseen disasters?In which case overseas aid continues to be a reasonable principle. We are also spending less and less on our armed forces. Overseas aid is a different kind of "battle".What is needed however are continual reports on the return for our investment in this funding. Also how much "goes missing". We really do need to know whether this "battle " is being won.You think our Councils are competent?

George Knox ● 4601d

Cutting overseas aid is not the answer.  The Environment Agency had a huge cut to their budget (announced last October) and massive job cuts imposed on them.  As a result of climate change, wild weather will be more common and events such as these will be the norm rather than the exception. Therefore, before cutting aid, we should be making sure that the Environment Agency is properly funded and that flood defences, considering carefully if we build on flood plains, etc, etc, is a priority.  We can run around like headless chickens (I never thought I'd quote Prince Charles) or we can face up to this.

Anne Brown ● 4600d

Oh George, I don't think our Councils are "competent", but they are surely "better" than The EA?!!!

Rosco White ● 4600d

The government's flood response is descending into crisis. There should be an immediate moratorium on the 1,500 job cuts planned at the Environment Agency. There are people out there in the water helping people right now who are facing redundancy. The government also needs to recognize the impact of climate change as well as irresponsible building on flood plains and a lack of infrastructure maintenance.

Chris Hurley ● 4600d

Having seen the misuse of overseas aid, particularly in africa ?. Which has some of the richest resources in the world.....can I suggest that such aid should only be given to other countries by those british tax payers who choose to do so, out of their own disposable income and not from our taxes which some may prefer to be used in other ways.What countries are presently giving us aid to help us with our present difficulties?  Has anyone offered to send us their expertise or equipment free of charge?    I've been away have I missed something?It is well known that most of the aid sent to haiti has been misused.

Dee Cook ● 4597d

I'd quite like to choose not to spend my taxes on 14 fighter planes (which quite possibly don't work and aren't compatible with our systems anyhow) costing £54 million each, if it's alright with you Doris.Is it OK to make that optional too please? It's well known that most of the aid, sorry, money, spent on defence procurement, has been misused too.

Sara Nathan ● 4596d

Hi DeeYou asked whether other countries are offering us aid in our present difficulties?Well, in point of fact, they are. The EU is offering us money from their flood fund. But for bizarre, ideological reasons we aren't taking it.Instead UKIP,the Daily Mail et al are suggesting it would be much better to take it from the poorest people in the world. Perhaps, we should take it from the Bangladeshi aid budget where the last time they had major floods which left TWO THIRDS of the country under water and displaced millions of people.I'm just saying.

Richard Grange ● 4596d

HS2?  It seems obscene to spend billions on a vanity project with doubtful benefits when there is a real crisis. We need to invest in long term flood defences to spare the misery people are enduring. I find it infuriating when politicians claim no money will be spared cleaning up. Why can this bottomless pit of money be made available to make sure this flooding doesn't happen in the first place.Our generation needs to invest in flood defences for the future of our children and their children.

Kim Rugg ● 4596d

Richard I agree with you. We are a wealthy country. We do not need to take money from the poorest. We should look to getting advice from Holland and pay for it ourselves. BTW I just heard that the 2,000 threatened jobs at the Environment Agency have been put on hold. Good. We need to put pressure on to keep these jobs intact, and even increase them if required.

Chris Hurley ● 4596d

The government must concentrate on flood defences in the future - neglecting this would be like having a nice house with no roof!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4596d