To think that the foreign aid budget should go to schools that are getting cuts

[HannahSmithson45]

Aibu to think that schools in the uk should not have their budgets being cut while money is sent abroad on many questionable projects.

Why should British children living in deprived areas with schools that are deprived have their schools cut.

My children's school is losing £600,000 and 18 teachers. Yet we are paying for ethiopian spice girls.

This pisses me off, it's right to be charitable but if we have a budget deficit then it doesn't make sense.

Or rich people like Phillip green could pay their taxes.

Why choose foreign aid? Why not defence or trident or something that is actively harmful as opposed to positive and moral?

Why choose foreign aid? Why not defence or trident or something that is actively harmful as opposed to positive and moral?

Because we need an armed forces, we don't need to give our money to charity. If foreign aid was able to be an opt in or out thing then I wouldn't be bothered but it should be my choice what taxes are spent on and charity should be a choice.

Oh and yes rich people should pay their tax.

Whilst there are many issues with foreign aid being used wisely. At least some of the money going for prevent the deaths of children which in my book is more important than anything. I really don't give a shit if those children happen to live in my country or not. And whilst I hate the demise of the education system In this country there is money available, it just needs to be directed better.
The rich are increasingly getting richer and this needs to be stopped. The taxes that should be being paid to us by the big companies such as Amazon should be paid at this would fund education.

if you genuinely don't give a shit about people other than those that just so happened to be born in the same geographical area as you then think about the benefits of aid on a purely selfish level. Aid helps to stabilise countries. This stops us This stops us having to send troops to these countries and lose young men and women to preventable wars. It reduces the likelihood of radicalisation within countries those reducing the likelihood of terrorism in ours. It improves relations between countries and can result in a good trade deals, making us richer. It can mean we can go on cheap holidays to more hot countries.

I don't, actually. Foreign aid isn't just (or at all) about charity - it's about keeping (or working towards) stability in a region, or diplomatic relations, or reparations, or a combination of all those things.

I completely agree. The pathetic excuse that is usually offered is that "the money buys more abroad than it does at home." This is deliberately missing the point to the extent of being rather insulting - £1 million spent in the UK does more good in the UK than it does if spent in Syria (or wherever - Syria just seems to be the favourite "deserving" recipient of our money at the moment).

Yes, perhaps the money will do more good in Syria than it would in the UK. This is irrelevant. It's our money, it should be spent here. When the UK is "fixed" and our schools are unwaveringly excellent, the hospitals are faultlessly brilliant, every British citizen has their own home, we have zero unemployment, zero debt, everything is perfect - then, perhaps, we should think about sending our money overseas. Fuck it, even I'd gladly chuck in a tenner if all those things happened.

Sending our money abroad when our country is in so much debt is like a person who is about to have their home repossessed giving their whole month's salary to the first Big Issue vendor or busker they see.

Let's sort BRITAIN out, then we will sort the rest of the world out.

We need the foreign aid to help the countries the govt votes our much needed armed forces should bomb.

The thing about sending foreign aid is that it is protective to the UKs interests in the long run. It means greater stability in areas of the world that might otherwise be v unstable; it means the UK has a better image in those areas too. So less likely to be a target for radicalised Muslims for eg. Oh, and helping those worse off than you is a Good Thing.

I'm a teacher. I'm horrified by the implications of cuts to school budgets and I saw today that teaching salaries have been cut by £3k pa in real terms over the last few years. But I do not want foreign aid cut in favour of schools. Take your small minded, DM influenced agenda away please.

I really object to funding countries that can send rockets into space, and have more millionaires than most places. It's obscene

YABU and your reasoning sounds a bit thick.
Tiniti has put it perfectly.
Corporates and the wealthy avoiding tax are where the problem lies, not giving a bit to the worlds poor.

Some selfish feckers on here tonight...

Foreign aid isn't just (or at all) about charity - it's about keeping (or working towards) stability in a region, or diplomatic relations, or reparations, or a combination of all those things.

That's a pretty racist comment actually - it implies that Britain is somehow so much BETTER than the rest of the world that we are required to run their affairs for them, because, after all, they're just a bunch of foreigners...

!. it's not charity

1. the uk foreign aid budget is 0.48% of GDP
2. education budget is 14% of GDP

for contrast pension budget is 20% of GDP

Yes I also believe foreign aid in the long term helps us all. Why should anyone's life chances be so dramatically different because they weren't born in the U.K.? We are very privileged no matter how we feel things are going.

Put crassly, the big advantage of foreign aid - from a purely selfish point of view - is that if you help people in less developed countries they are less likely to try to come over to more developed countries (like the U.K.) as illegal immigrants. People generally do not wish to leave their homes and travel miles in dangerous and unpleasant conditions; they do so because they feel they have no alternative. If we can help to alleviate some of the worst problems, we will have fewer people clamouring at the borders with all the associated problems (and costs) that brings for us. It makes good economic sense (apart from any moral arguments).

oh and given that WE colonised so much of the world we have a responsibility.

sigh

Why is it, when people are casting around for ways we as a nation waste our money, it's always foreign aid? Personally I reckon if the Queen can have all that money to do up Buck House, we can probably afford schools and teachers too. And still give money to those that n former colonies our country pillaged of resources back in the days of empire.

tramstray your first post is horrific.

But Africa would not get their version of the spice girls funded by the U.K. Taxpayer ....!!!!

Why am I being insulted for holding a widely held opinion in this country. Plus don't be nasty and rude because I happen to disagree with you.

Their is also a big debate as to whether the type of aid we give actually helps long term. This is because it makes countries reliant on the west and products made outside that country. This creates a weak economy let me find the video.

oh and given that WE colonised so much of the world we have a responsibility.
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So when does this stop then. Why should we today pay for something our ancestors did. I am not responsible for my grandparents or great grandparents.

Hannah if you are really 45, then do the arithmetic. It wasnt your 'grandparents and great grandparents' that could still have been living in lala colony land was it?

Why do you think the UK is so rich?

Imho we have a moral obligation to continue foreign aid after exploiting such huge swathes of the world with our empire.

And if government stopped messing around with education then there would be a lot less money wasted on such things as free schools, academies, changing gcses, giving ridiculous bursaries to learn to teach when staff leave after a year or so, and so on and so forth. Perhaps then schools could actually afford textbooks.