...to think that spending £50m on football is obscene when people are using food banks?

[FurryDogMother]

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I just can't get my head around this government's priorities - no doubt someone out there can help me make sense of this?

I don't see how football clubs can justify £50 000 000 for a man to kick a ball around a field. It's obscene that these sums of money are available to be spent in this way.

It's so easy to attack government spending on sport, arts, heritage as a whole (ie, generally rather than a specific named project) - areas some people would regard as 'non-essential'.

But actually those things go towards the general quality of life and bring in huge swathes of income too. It costs each taxpayer in the UK 56p per year to finance the royal family. They bring in far more than we pay out in terms of relations with business and tourism. Central government pays £4.60 per person for arts and culture in the regions (but £69 per person in London). That's nothing, especially when so many museums and galleries and now free to enter.

While I agree it is sad that food banks exist, simply cutting off funding for arts or sport isn't going to make the difference based on those sorts of figures. And what sort of country would we live in if we had no sports, or arts, or heritage? These areas also employ a large number of people and, as with the royal family, bring in huge amounts of money too. Did you know that more people go to the theatre than go to watch football, for example?

As for sending more money to the third world, I'm afraid the answer is not one of throwing more money at it. You only have to see how much money has been poured into Africa, or debt written off, in the last 30 years to see that. Yes, there have been some improvements in some areas, of course there have. But people thought Live Aid and everything that followed was solving "the problem". We are a very long way off that.

I do, however, understand how people get annoyed at the sort of sums individuals earn in football (compared with other sports) and agree that in many areas what was now a "working class game" has become big business and nothing else.

Frances, it's only possible for the clubs to spend that kind of money because football generates it. It's one of the most successful businesses on earth, providing hundreds of thousands of jobs.

It's like saying you can't buy an expensive car or house even though you've earned the money because there are better uses you could put the money to. It's privately earned money that can be spent as the owners see fit.

George's £50m is completely separate to that and will benefit far more poor kids than any other £50m investment could IMO

As for libraries, yes, they are shutting loads across the UK and have been for some time. But the truth is also that library usage has fallen sharply. This was evident years ago and why so many libraries turned themselves into cyber libraries and put in computers and internet - not enough people were coming in to borrow books. Now that computers and the internet are common in the vast majority of homes, an d things can be accessed on phones which are also becoming cheaper and the norm, so library use in that respect is also waning.

People aren't necessarily reading less. Many people have switched to Kindles and the like - it's more convenient. The world has changed. Once upon a time, there were books. Then came the radio. Then came television. Then came video. Then came computers. People work more hours and use their social time differently and don't necessarily have time to read a book in three weeks and get it back (assuming their library is still open and nearby). You may have noticed that a lot of bookshops have also closed in the last 10 years, especially independent ones. Why? Because people are turning to e-books and buying books from Amazon online because it tends to be cheaper.

Sad it may be. Fact of life I'm afraid.

winky There is a massive desire within the game at grassroots level to get more girls involved. The girls in my dc club are valued, cherished and encouraged to aim for academy level. Compared to even ten years ago it's very heartening.
The people who bleat that it's just being about men kicking a bag of wind across some grass miss the point. It's a massively popular pastime with it's origins being in the working-class movement. For people like my dad for example it's been his passion and joy, his culture so to speak. There are tens of millions of people just like him.

That's all true Seth but even though libraries are being used less and more people are using ebooks, the Library service still provides an excellent service. You can borrow ebooks free of charge, so no need to be using the evil Amazon!

December I don't dispute the service. I am merely pointing that life is about supply and demand and how people want to receive their service or their book.

Absolutely Seth but I think a lot of people think the library (that they didn't use anyway!) is no longer available to them because either it's closed or they've converted to ebooks. I just wanted to point out that actually, the Library service is alive and kicking and moving with the times.

OP here - thanks to all who've contributed to the topic (didn't want you to think I'd done a runner, I just went to bed!). Lots to think about here - but I'd just like to clarify that I wasn't suggesting that the government invest in food banks, but rather that they invested more in initiatives which would prevent the need for food banks.

Yes, and getting kids involved in things that keep them off the streets, active and busy and discourage drink, smoking and drugs is a very positive way of reducing the risk that they'll need foodbanks in the future.

This could be an initiative that prevents the need for food banks. If there are more people taking part in sport, then there will be more jobs for coaches, grounds maintenance people, the construction industry. It could give young people more aspiration than many of the currently have. People need a purpose in life, they need things they can enjoy, and football is very popular, especially amongst the groups of people who need the most help.

If they were putting that money into Polo or lacrosse, I'd see your point. But they aren't.

In theory the business side of football generates profit and income and that is taxable. (Whether it is or not is another thread).