Should Great Britain give money to other countries?

Simple question.

What do you all think?

I think no I would not give any of our money to any other country and I do not care what state they are in.

We have to sort out our own house first before even considering other countries.

I object to giving money to countries that one half are in poverty and the other half bathing in diamonds.

Nobody ever helps us so if we have any ''scrag end'' left they can have that.

I don't agree with comic relief etc etc etc and would only give to charities that do not have huge administration costs.

THOUGHTS??

I totally agree. I am really against sending aid to other countries when our own is in such a state and our own are suffering.
Old people should not be dying of hypothermia in this country in this day and age, dying alone and not found for weeks because they can't afford help or care.
People should be getting the treatment they need instead of dying because its expensive.
Our homeless should be homed and there is so much more.
Until we can look after our own then we should not be looking after everyone elses people too.

I think Britain should give aid to other countries, we're very lucky to live here, others are born into poverty, we have a benefits system and free healthcare, they don't have clean running water. We can all moan about how bad we have it as a country, but majority of those who are old enough and young enough to work choose not to. I agree we should help the elderly more in this country, but that shouldn't stop us helping those who are in distress elsewhere.

To be honest, there isn't a lot wrong with this country, if you compare it to others, majority of our homeless had homes, they left, we have women's aid, we have homeless shelters, perhaps thats a sweeping statement, but we have hostels etc, what about countries that have firing squads and filthy water.

Our country needs help because we're greedy, I have my TV on, my heating on, I'm sitting here talking online on a forum, surrounded by University books....what do I have to complain about, not a lot. Thats because I was born in a free country. I had an operation on my knee done privately because waiting on the NHS would have taken longer, I was in pain so I chose to pay - I had that option. What about waiting for a simple operation that may never come? The number of people in this country who aren't treated is significantly lower than in others that can't even get treatment for TB, something this country is routinely vaccinated against. Just because we're free doesn't give us the right not to help those in greater need elsewhere, help our own of course, but help others too.

I don't think this question is being asked in the rigth way - the question should be does our aid actually help anyone abroad ?

Listening to radio 4 they had a Chinese guest who explained very well how our aid to their country was actually keeping people in poverty and another guest from the African continent who for similar reasons was saying we are making things worse in his country by propping up a corrupt government and not allowing them to take responsibility for themselves, he said his country was a rich country if they were allowed to look after themselves but this money coming in meant they did not organise themselves and it was better for the government to keep the people in poverty than to allow them to make their own way in the world.

They both wondered why we gave money - does our government realise these countries could compete with us if they stopped the aid ? It is not a nice thought that could be possible !

I suppose it depends on if you think we live in the same world as everyone else. If you realised how dependent we are on imported goods from countries with a far lower standard of living, i think you would see that Overseas Aid is necessary.
But I agree it should be targetted better.

Friend of mine said we should give them peoples places in prison and build a compound for the prisoners, dump them in there and leave them to get on with it. He said it's pretty poor that murderers and rapists have it better than a lot of our elderly people.

I don't really know how I feel to be honest. With the way the economy is and people struggling it seems we should be doing more to help our own country rather than spending billions helping other countries.

On the whole I consider it a good thing that we donate to other countries, provided donations get to the people, and/or provided their governments are showing a willingness to help themselves.

Despite the best efforts of the BNP/EDL/etc to appeal to humanity's baser instincts of division and hostility, despite their rhetoric about how "tribe can never live alongside tribe" - we are all human beings who had no choice as to where we were born. All of us who happened to be born in a modern and liberal country such as Britain should feel very fortunate. Life could have been very much worse.

Despite the recession, Britain remains one of the wealthiest and most fortunate nations on the planet. The classic tabloid cliche that "we first need to sort our own house out" is just a pithy bit of rhetoric designed to temper guilt. It doesn't bear scrutiny for the simple reason that no 'house' is ever 100% sorted out, but ours is a darn sight more sorted out than most, and many of us CAN make a difference.

Look around at the world. Gut-wrenching poverty and disease that we can barely imagine. The prevalence of natural disasters and extreme weather events that befall other countries are a stark reminder that all countries are NOT equally able to help themselves, let along help each other. Of course that's something that sits uneasily and inconveniently with the refuseniks hoping to get a good night's sleep.

You don't have to be a so-called "bleeding heart liberal" to recognize that we are considerably better positioned to help other countries than most developing countries are to help us. What are we waiting for, 0% unemployment?

We talk about poverty in this country. Most of us haven't got a clue. Or if we have, we try to drown it out with a steady stream of celebrity gossip, X Factor, and other day-to-day minutiae - anything to keep the reality of the world's suffering out of our heads. Facing up to the reality, recognizing we are one human species, and demanding action on that basis, would challenge the 'tribal' attitudes that are so damaging to humanity.

Yeap I agree.

Sorry but I do not agree, we as a nation are not responsible for any other nation.
I only wish the people in charge had the guts to say so and carry it through.

I know I am going to sound harsh and awful, but I really am not that mean and although at the moment I think we should be helping our own before others, a lot of that is because the poor countries don't help themselves.
They just have child after child knowing they cannot feed themselves properly let alone a child. They know thier water supply is bad or non existant, they know they will be born into disease, but still they keep having more and more children knowing they can't give them a quality of life if a life at all.
Our aid very often doesn't get through or most goes on administration so doesn't reach them.
I don't see anywhere really thriving now after the billions and billions they should have recieved over the years. Also why should thier goverments help thier own people who are poor and suffering when they think we will do it for them.

If all those billions of pounds had been put into the elderly here or into more resources to tackle child abuse maybe those that have suffered awful deaths or acts they will never recover from would be here now or not have suffered.