to ask if you agree that we "should not be sending aid to bongo bongo land"

[ICBINEG]

Aside the ridiculous racist overtones of the statement itself....if you can...

The adorable MEP on radio 4 this morning was suggesting that it is inappropriate to be sending aid abroad when we are cutting police, hospitals and the defence back home.

The interviewer pointed out the last aid dispatched was 50 million to help with a polio outbreak in the Sudan area.

The MEP basically said if people want to give to charity they can, the government shouldn't and I think the majority of your listeners agree.

So please answer if you will:

1. Did you hear the interview?
2. Do you agree that we should stop sending foreign aid?
3. Can you believe he said bongo bongo? In 2013???

Don't use the NHS then, take out private medical insurance & contribute part of your taxes ( the part funding the NHS ) to foreign aid - why not do that?

1. No
2. No
3. Sort of glad he said it as it is utterly revealing

9/10. that bumps us up a confidence level.

Dear MEP you are WRONG. The majority of radio 4 listeners do NOT agree with you.

& yes, some people commit suicide over depression re: body image. Stop being so flippant over things you know nothing about.

navada because that won't stop the NHS spending billions on things far far less 'vital' than what the foreign aid budget attempts to address.

You said we can't send money abroad while vital services are cut.

How about we continue to send money abroad and cut non-vital services like constantly checking the repeat appointment box instead of putting your money where your mouth is and discharging someone that you think there is nothing wrong with?

No.
No.
Yes, sadly.

I think his mean spirited attitude towards helping poor people in developing countries is actually pretty common. I 'like' Save The Children on facebook so I get their photos in my newsfeed. Whenever they have a picture of a starving, ill baby in Africa or a homeless toddler from Syria sleeping outside in the snow in a refugee camp or similar, there are always a ton of comments underneath saying things like "send them contraceptives not food, they breed like rabbits", "let their own governments sort it out, there are plenty of kids here who need help" (true but how can that be your first reaction to a photo of a 2 year old child sleeping outdoors in snow?). It's really depressing.

Am I right in thinking our 'Aid' often comes with a host of conditions attached including arms deals - I have a distant memory of the labour government selling Tanzania an anti aircraft system on the back of 'aid'

That said - we have a moral duty to help other countries in need

navada would you care to put an estimate on the relative rates of death due to suicide from lack of boob job and polio across the world?

Or maybe just make the efficiency point....

1 polio vaccine costs £1 and has a high probability of saving life.
1 boob job costs £5000 and has a very very low probability of saving a life.

So which of these is the more vital service?

Well of course we shouldn't be sending aid to "bongo bongo land" Theres no such place!

Oh and I should have said, these comments aren't even about government aid, they're resentful about people giving their own money to charities that help foreign children in desperate circumstances.

"radio 4 listeners are are not drawn from the general population in an unbiased way"

Nor are MN readers, this is a double screened sample. reading Twitter there is a lot higher agreement on his foreign aid point.

IMO as long as foreign aid is a "non negotiable" on the left, despite the very clear evidence of misuse over the years, it creates an easy target.

oh I know MN isn't an unbias sample...it's just the closest I can get....

As I said earlier this is the closest to right wing I ever get.

literally NO ONE I know in RL would agree that we should cut the foreign aid budget. Get it where is should be going...of course. But cut it? Never.

1 No
2 Yes
3 No

1- no
2 - no
3 - wtaf?!

1. No, but read the transcript (am abroad, but a Radio 4 listener when in the UK)

1. No, I absolutely do not agree

1. I am gobsmacked and appalled that even this twat would be so overtly and unashamedly racist.

This guy kinda makes me think of Jimmy Savilles gravestone 'it was good while it lasted'

Just a, yeah I am racist, yes I think the value of a life can be judged by skin colour and yeah I think women should stay in the home and businesses would be mad to employ them..oh and most prostitutes are gagging for it.....are you going to fire me? No? Then I'll just carry on.

Please don't get sidetracked into 'UKIP are racist' and 'aid is good'.

Those are your assumptions, and they don't make you a better, more moral person even if you would like to think so

There is a growing amount of evidence that aid really does not help either good governance or the economies of these countries.

If the European Union (the entity that rules Britain these days) REALLY wanted to help Africa, they would:

1. stop paying European farmers sugar beet subsidies
2. stop putting tariffs on imported cane sugar (grows naturally w lots of sun) to make it more expensive than Silver Spoon
3. open European markets to African produce.

Just one small example.

And you know the lovely warm glow you get when you put clothes in the banks for charity? ... this has completely stuffed up the African textile and clothing industry (along with Chinese imports).

There is a huge market in Nairobi, where you can get the most amazing stuff for a couple of shillings, all donated by nice middle class people in the West.

In Uganda, they used to wear these lovely Victorian bodices with puff sleeves (happy nostalgic sigh), all made out of locally made and designed colourful fabric. All gone now, the tailors and factories out of business.

1. Yes 2)No. for so very many reasons.
2. utterly appalled. It says it all, he's an utter utter oooooh, I can't think of the words!

Icbinge; I doubt many women are offered cosmetic surgery on the NHS willy nilly, if that was the case we'd all be having it done. You could argue IVF treatment is a waste of money, the woman won't die if she never has a baby after all - why not cut all services that aren't deemed 'life or death' while we're at it? - is that what you want?

Yes
No
Not surprised. Disgusted, yes, but not surprise. It's UKIP for goodness sake! BNP lite as someone said. Those of us who find their views offensive need to wake up to quite how horrible and dangerous they are.

allmycats: I think foreign aid should continue but be spent on items, not given as money. So, if they need a new nursing facility we build it and train the staff, if grain etc is needed we distribute it and supervise the growing of it etc. Never, Ever Cash to be spent as they want.

This ignores however the side benefits that would be lost if it was done that way. Think about it - the number of jobs that get brought to a place where a nursing facility is being built - builders, masons, truckers, nursing trainers etc etc. And if 'we' (who exactly?) supervised the growing of grain, it's completely unsustainable as local people don't have any control or are able to save seeds for the next year's harvest, that kind of thing. All these countries have excellent, highly qualified people who could do that, and finding opportunities for them to work means fewer people in those countries are living in poverty and are now able to better provide for their families - which is what foreign aid is all about in the end, surely?

To all those who are saying that foreign aid needs greater scrutiny - of course it does. Corruption over foreign aid is a serious problem in lots of countries. There are a lot of campaigns by charities here in the UK and ones based in developing countries about trying to get 'First World' governments to take this seriously. A lot of the corruption comes from multi-national private companies too, who are contracted to deliver aid projects and win these contracts by bungs, backhanders and so on. These are a couple of the campaigns about this that might interest you:
www.aidtransparency.net/
www.openaidmap.org/

No
Yes
doesnt surprise me.

I do think hes right about aid not being used for its original intention. Too much aid/money seems to be misdirected to benefit many people other than those who it was intended to benefit. Unfortunately due to the way he has put his argument no one will listen.

No
NO
and
NO!

Please see response from Bongobongo land below.

[http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/we-dont-get-any-aid-says-president-of-bongobongoland-2013080777988 response]

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/we-dont-get-any-aid-says-president-of-bongobongoland-2013080777988

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/we-dont-get-any-aid-says-president-of-bongobongoland-2013080777988

1. No
2. Possibly.
3. Not surprised, considering the source.

I'm really on the fence on sending foreign aid. I suspect a lot of it is not going where it should. And I do struggle with the idea that we're in austerity measures here, people are needing food banks, and there are talks of further cuts, but we're still sending money to other countries.

The moral obligation thing only goes so far - don't we also have a moral obligation to the children (and everyone) in our own country to make sure they are okay?

I've always wondered about the money sent over - "this much money buys a well or building or whatever" - at what point is it ever going to be enough? Sorry, but this has been the same thing for YEARS - since I was a child (and I'm in my 40's) - and yet, nothing has changed. Obviously, something is not working. And I don't believe we should be sending money to countries like China, India, etc at all.