African drought.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....pia-risk-cholera.html

Why does Britain need to dish out a further £52m worth of aid on top of the £13million donated by Britons to the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal launched only a week ago, plus the annual amount we already give in aid to Africa, and the amount we are obliged to donate via The United Nations.?

How much are the wealthy countries of Africa giving from their Gold and Diamond mines?

[Gromit]

Tigerlelly

// Maybe some desalination plants. //

Ethiopia is ladlocked.

[NOX]

Thetruthhere.... no no-one in the UK SHOULD be dying of hypothermia- and there are measures in place top make sure that they don't because we have a welfare system that works pretty damned well in 99.9% of cases. The odd few who do die, do not die because there is no way of keeping warm, they die because they have wrongly made a bad judgement about heating being a priority. If an OAP sits there with the gas fire on full from October to March and gets into horrific debt because of that the Gas company will take them to court and simply deduct a small amount from their beneift- and as for someone whose 59 needing some sort of handout- give me a break please, I'm 50 and I wouldn't dream of comparing myself to someone whose frail and vulnerable and in need of real assiatnce. Don't you have any sense of real priority? The people in africa have NO CHOICES.

[Milvus]

I'm with Gromit on this one. I cannot understand the posturing when there are people dying for the very basics of life. We should help both personally and as a country. We have had members here talking about folks in this country dying of cold, poor support for the elderly etc. but I see no suggestions for stopping funding road pothole repairs, the arts, minority interests etc. No-one ever died from missing a ballet, but thousands are dying because they have no water. Think also of FairTrade. Western countries can ship and sell rice cheaper than a subsistence farmer can produce it. Because of better production techniques? No. Because of national subsidies. Take away the ability to make an income for these folks and the West just exacerbates the problem. We all need to put our hand in our pocket. The money is nothing to most of us, but it is can save lives for others

[TheTruthHere]

Nox i am not wasting any more time on this topic if Gromit can post old links i will do the same

http://news.bbc.co.uk...nd/london/3342059.stm

[Gromit]

TheTruthHere
// Sorry Gromit i see what you mean anyone under 65 should be working so they don't count //
I don't wish anyone to die of cold in winter but I do not see how that can happen. Pensioners get help with payment. People who are not pensioners are either working or on benefits. Why can they not keep warm?

// I can show you a family who in the winter months are in bed around Eight thirty every night trying to keep warm. //
I have no idea why that family cannot afford to keep themselves warm. Assuming it is no fault of their own, then they have my commiserations. But they are not dying.

[TheTruthHere]

http://www.dailymail....ry-care-failures.html

[TheTruthHere]

// then they have my commiserations. But they are not dying. //

No but they are freezing in the winter months

[NOX]

Despite the fact that you've disappeared in a hissy fit and shot yourself in the foot with your link TheTruthHere, i will respond. The couple in your link who were found dead from hypothermia because their gas had been cut off HAD OVER £2,000 in CASH when they were discovered dead, so why could they not pay their £141.00 gas bill please tell me?
The point you seem to miss is that people die here because of bad decisions on their part- people in Africa lack choices to even make bad decisions.

[Gromit]

TheTruthHere

Your 2003 link. They were found dead in October (they were in a state of decomposure) and they probably died a month or two earlier than that. Their gas was cut in August. I don't tjink that is a typical case. Since then the winter weather payments have been introduced, but they aren't payable in August and I don't think many people think that they should be.

[askyourgran]

Please tell my friend who has cancer why she can't have an expensive drug to keep her alive for a few more years. Please tell our old people who are being turfed out of their residential homes because their care home budgets cannot be met by the councils, including day care facilities. Our hospitals need more beds and facilities (to help cater for the immigrant explosion). Charity begins at home. For countless years we have been giving money to African charities, and the result is always the same. More flybown children dying, people still living in tents unable or unwilling to help themselves. Hands out for more money. Enough is Enough, educate them first. Supervise all aid money, Pipline water and give them the basics and tell them then that this time it is enough.

[TheTruthHere]

// disappeared in a hissy fit and shot yourself in the foot with your link TheTruthHere,//

Nox let me explain something i am not having as you put it a hissy fit some of the people on here would rather spend money helping people in other countries rather than helping people here in this country.

Strange but true


It is the same old answers being posted so i am off


No Hissey fit just a little click of the button on my computer.

[Milvus]

Askyourgran, why not complain about things we spend in this country that have no effect on lives. I completely agree we should not have post code medication, but no-one in the UK needs to starve to death, or die of thirst, or cold because there is no help. Fly blown children isn't needed, should the children be better dressed to get hep?

[Gromit]

TheTruthHere

If there were (or are) people needing genuine help in this country I support any help that we taxpayers can give them. I supported Labour's Winter weather payments, and I condemn that this Government has cut it.

The present Government are trying to help people here and abroad, and that is the position I support. If both need our help, then they should get it.

[NOX]

I absolutely agree with the notion that EVERYONE regardless of whether they are British or African should get the help they need, but there is a huge difference between not having any water and having to go to bed an hour early because you want to save on your gas bill, and i am perfectly happy to put my money where my mouth is and say that I don't mind a fairly large increase in tax to sort it ALL out.

[tigerlelly]

Gromit, I was talking about the entire continent not just Ethiopia; you're splitting hairs.

[NOX]

Nice work whoever the zapping fascists are in getting rid of Gromit who has been nothing but intelligent and clear thinking in his posts on this subject and not in the least abusive. What a joke.

[tigerlelly]

Perhaps he was 'zapped' because of something on another post?

[askyourgran]

Less children would be the answer milvus. This problem is never going to go away. We have worked and slaved to bring up our own families, and we have seen hard times. Now we support the immigrants here who have not made any contribution to this country's wealth and are a drain our resources. Our budgets are slashed, and yet the numpties in charge see fit to throw more money down the bottomless pit that is Africa. Turf out the corruption and give them an infrastructure to build something, but this endless aid must stop some time. The worlds richest countries should unite and put an end to their constant misery. If these people live in such inhospitable conditions why can't they be integrated into other places?

[karenmac60]

Yes Gran, the Olympics and other white elephants are so much more worthy of 'our hard earned money' than dying children. Quite right....