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???

This is all quite close to home for me, because I do have family in Syria as well as family who have fled to Jordan.

Pre war, they lived very stable lives, a lot like you and me. Now they have to queue for over six hours to get basic essentials. Sometimes they will have no oil for cooking or heat for months at a time and electricity is intermittent. They consider themselves fortunate, others have it far worse.

Eyes, to answer your question, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon have taken in vast numbers of refugees. The fourth largest city in Jordan is a Syrian refugee camp.

For most Syrians it is difficult enough to escape Syria, the entire country is a warzone, all the border regions have heavy shelling, you usually need to hire a driver, which is hugely expensive.

Hopping on the plane to Qatar isn't really an option, then there's the fact that the cost of living in the wealthier countries is beyond what most refugees can afford.

Arab countries and Muslim charities are giving money to aid Syrians, the next big project is convert the camps to make them more suitable for long term living.

10/11...

No (but I am a radio 4 listener)
Yes (many reasons)
Yes, sadly.

navada I would like to think both IVF and polio vaccines could be afforded if really wasted money in government was cut first.

But if it had to be one or the other, then sorry but I can't see how the desire for a child can outweigh the life of an existing child. So I would rather cut funding to IVF than cut funding to polio vaccines for Sudan.

If the current polio scheme loses funding the WHO thinks it will lead to an extra 200,000 cases per year that's 10,000 children paralysed or worse per year. They have very nearly eradicated the fucker. If they manage it then no more cases ever....no more funding required ever.

So yes I would exchange ~1500 babies born by IVF on the NHS this year for the chance to eradicate polio for ever and save 10,000 existing children per year from disability or death.

ohhh Vix...well I guess I will count you 9/11 against...still statistically significant that the MEP was wrong about the majority of listeners agreeing with him.

I think all foreign aid should be stopped. If people want to give to people in foreign countries, there are charities that do that.

er what now...that should have been 10/12

1. No I didn't
2. No. We live in one world and should not leave people who live in developing countries through circumstance of birth to die.
3. No, but it speaks volumes about his attitude to people in those countries and why he doesn't think they deserve aid.

1. Did you hear the interview?

No

1. Do you agree that we should stop sending foreign aid?

No but it should be targeted better. If I have a choice I buy Colombian fair trade coffee because any Colombian farmer not growing cocaine needs all the help they can get.

The same with vaccines, we have eliminated small pox, we are close to the same with polio. This is not IMHO an aid policy, it is something that everyone in the world can benefit from. If we can irradiate a disease then we all benefit, as do our children, grand children etc.

Education, particularly female literacy - it is the best way to stop over population and ensures a better life for the children who are born.

If you feel safe in your own country, have access to education and food for yourself and your family then you are less likely to seek asylum elsewhere. I have no problem with people fleeing places where they are in danger, Malala Yousafzi is welcome, as are her family, but I wold prefer to live in a world where a child could go to school every day without death threats and be able to keep a blog.

1. Can you believe he said bongo bongo? In 2013???

If he is UKIP then yes I can

1. No
2. No
3. Words fail me, but sadly I can believe that there are people stupid and bigoted enough to say this, even in 2013.

It's UKIP.

The real UKIP.

ICBINEG

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

Dear MEP you are WRONG. The majority of radio 4 listeners Guardian reading latte-sipping Mumsnetter Islingtonite pantywaisters do NOT agree with you.

Fixed that for you.

It was a crass and incredibly stupid thing to say, even for him, but I do think we should be looking more closely at how our foreign aid is distributed.

No

NO - If you think we have it tough here, how do you think it is for people in extremely poor countries who have no benefits, no access to medical assistance, never mind free medical, no clean drinking water, etc... It is just luck you weren't born in a poor, desperate place. Where is your humanity?!! I do agree that corrupt governments/dictorships that squander money when their country is in need makes me angry and sick. But should you screw people over twice?

Urgh - very depressing attitude.

flat the MN jury is more split than the radio 4 jury...by a long way... my statement was true...yours is not so much.

If the MEP has said the majority of MNetters will agree with me he might have been right.

ICBINEG

flat the MN jury is more split than the radio 4 jury...by a long way... my statement was true...yours is not so much.

If the MEP has said the majority of MNetters will agree with me he might have been right.

Mumsnetters, Radio 4 listeners, Guardian readers - pretty similar demographic. Radio 4 listeners - definitely broader. But MN/Guardian are practically interchangeable. Look at the weekly "AIBU to hate the tories because they are so bad" which crop up here.

1. No
2. Yes ( remove trade barriers instead and give them a fair chance to compete, aid does not seem to help much. Don't give a man a fish, teach him to fish instead, that idea)
3. Yes, sadly I can believe it and it invalidates any point he might have had

We give $12 billion in aid to foreign countries. How can anyone decry our own "austerity" while still being in favour of foreign aid to this level?

Tabith, I guess the thought would be to tax "the rich" more?

No
Yes - but it is all so much more complicated than that. In principle we as a nation have so much more and it is our duty to provide aid. That said the way it is dealt with and the way people here are suffering shows we are from getting it right.
Unfortunately - no.

No
No
Horrible thing to say - it is a matter of life and death and he has trivialised it with this term. A little part of me did wonder whether cuts in aid to Bongo Bongo Land would explain why you don't get Um Bongo much any more.

Parmarella

Tabith, I guess the thought would be to tax "the rich" more?

If it was that easy to get more tax out of "the rich", don't you think Gordon Brown would have helped himself long ago?

How about 'not spending quite so much money'?

Well yes, exactly.

My point was that saying "tax the rich more" means " tax anyone with more money than me, but not me please" which is prevalent in left wing thinking.

I think aid should be different anyway, not handing out cash to ease our own conscience. Now micro finance can be very beneficial to stabilise local communities, that is something I think is effective.

1. No
2. Aid should target the people in need. And sometimes it doesn't
3. No. Of course this is bad by today's standards.

flat my point is that this thread PROVES that the MN demographic and the radio 4 MN subset are not the same AT ALL.