In amongst all the rumors of savage slashed budgets in Education, in the Arts, in areas of the Health Service, amd most of all in Defense, it is indeed strange to point at one particular thread of taxpayers money which is seemingly inviolate from the political guillotine, wielded either by ZaNuLabour or the soaking wet version of the Tory Party which is all that is available to former believers! The section of the British taxpayer’s money which is sacrosanct of course is Overseas Development Aid, now administered by the catchily-titled UKAid agency, staffed by superbly-paid if not superbly trained civil servants who give our cash away to deserving poor people.

The one thing to note about UKAid, and it's huge wodge of cash, courtesy of the UK Taxpayers, is that, in the midst of the severest financial recession, with the Opposition and most t.v., newspaper and learned commentators prophesying huge cuts in Government spending as we hopefully fight our way back up the financial hill, and of course the Labor government claims of more 'spending' without actually saying where the cash is coming from, neither Party ever comes near the UKAid budget with a threatened scythe because....?

Because why?

Is it because we, as a Nation, through our bloated politicians, have promised that we shall spend 0.7% of our G.D.P. on aid, and we must never break our promise?

Is it because the people on whom all this cash is allegedly slathered are so poor, so stupid or so technologically backward that they cannot look after themselves?

Is it because the very knowledge that we are 'giving' generates a deep glow inside our very bodies?

As a long-time skeptic and total cynic when it comes to charities of any nature, whether public or private, I suggest that we are wasting our time and money 'giving' anything, certainly if it is in Africa, and the many bloated dictatorships within that unfortunate cess-pit of a Continent!

We have all been on this Earth for about the same amount of time, so why is it that we in the West, that is the Americas, Europe, China and the Far Eastern nations of Japan, South Korea etc. have forged ahead technologically and politically, while virtually the whole of Africa is a semi-basket case? Why should we pay to build a nation in Afghanistan, or in Somaliland or Ethiopia, or indeed in any other portion of this planet where people allegedly cannot look after themselves?

We have given billions in Aid, and what do we see in return, flag-draped coffins and grieving families?

I would suggest that the deep glow felt inside our bodies is actually either indigestion or a simmering anger at the huge amounts of our money donated to useless causes and stupid political aspiration!

Mike Cunningham

 Tangled Blog · Jul. 23, 2009

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