In the past , perhaps due to an Infestation of Lennie Henry I have sneered at Comic relief .This year I rather enjoyed it ,and duly handed over £50 .This is not my only charitable donation though. The Department of International Development's budget is rising from £5.4 billion in 2007-08 to £7.9 billion a year by 2010-11 .Taken with indirect aid we will hit 0.56% of GDP or about £50 per household.( Feel free to check the maths GDP £2.13 trillion).So , to recap , I have voluntarily given £50 quid to charity and under threat of imprisonment the state has removed a further £50 and sent it off to worthy foreign causes on my behalf . Now what possible right do they have to do that ?
Certainly not a popular mandate -A recent YouGov survey ( Jan ) asked people to decide “If the Government did decide to cut back on its plans for spending, which two or three of these would you most like it to cut?" Topof the hit parade was,
Payments to international bodies such as the United Nations and European Union 72 , and second was Overseas aid 67 (other typical results ,were Child benefit 7 ,The police 3 ,Schools 2,Pensions ,Hospitals 1....)
So it could hardly be clearer that compulsory charity is detested.There are many reasons .People have doubts about the efficacy of this enforced largesse .They suspect waste and corruption. They are concerned about its eventual recipients , in Palestine , for example.
The assumption that we should go on with this “International Charity via the State “ is rarely challenged but the only defence Sunder Katwala ,General Secretary of the Fabian Society, could come up with was this, 'If you want to abolish overseas aid, its a free country, why not start a campaign and see how you get on. You could run candidates on that ticket too. ......etc.)
This is childish nonsense , there has never been a campaign for giving tax away to foreigners for the very good reason it would be laughed into non existence. How is it then that our system malfunctions so badly? I`ll deal with that another time, but while we press for Constitutional reform , what about a simple thankyou.The Red Nose people manage that at least ... (and you get a red nose.)
This is childish nonsense , there has never been a campaign for giving tax away to foreigners for the very good reason it would be laughed into non existence. How is it then that our system malfunctions so badly? I`ll deal with that another time, but while we press for Constitutional reform , what about a simple thankyou.The Red Nose people manage that at least ... (and you get a red nose.)
3 comments:
How can Brown and co even pretend to believe that the purpose of overseas aid is to help those living in poverty overseas?
Huge proportions of overseas aid go to line the coffers of foreign dictators, not the pockets of the poor.
Call me cynical where Brown and zanulab are concerned, and you'd be right, yet I'm still convinced that the primary reason greedy, destructive tyrants like Blair and Brown splash around as overseas is in order to buy future advantage for themselves.
Goodness that really is cynical Flo. I am quite keen on charity actually and I don`t want to seem against the effort to help whithin reason
I confine my charitable giving to the R.N.L.I., partly because my Mum came from a town with a lifeboat station and the County Air Ambulance which refuses any State Aid so the State cannot re-allocate it eleswhere.
Note that either of these charities might even help ME one day.
Plus the odd donation towards the village hall and any local fete/carnival that I might come across.
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