National Hero Godfrey Bongo gongo land Bloom?

[Zamo]

..and riding roughshod over the sensitivities of people whose votes he'll have to rely on before UKIP are taken seriously at the ballot box.

 

Agreed, his maladroit political skills do not do much to advance the case that UK are a serious party that could be entrusted with power. He still has a point though. Putting aside the affordability issue for the moment, there is a real question as to whether our aid yields any return on the investment or whether we just perpetuate the problems in these regions.

[Mecky]

Agreed, his maladroit political skills do not do much to advance the case that UK are a serious party that could be entrusted with power. He still has a point though. Putting aside the affordability issue for the moment, there is a real question as to whether our aid yields any return on the investment or whether we just perpetuate the problems in these regions.

 

He's probably appealing to the mentality of your average rightwing sensationalist rags like the Daily Mail, the Daily Star and The Sun

[chalga]

Let's keep it simple (and these are made up figures)...

 

Let's assume the UK gives £20 million in aid for the poor of Nigeria and the Nigerian government spends £20 million of rockets and astronauts. This means there is £40 million in the pot to cover these two streams of expenditure.

 

If the UK withdraws its aid then there is just £20 million in the pot and the Nigerian government has a choice - maintain the £20 million spend to support its poor or spend it on a space programme.

 

In other words, we are picking up the cost of looking after the Nigerian poor so its government can spend its money on rockets and astronauts.

 

Let's keep it more simple than that.............the Daily Mail says your money is funding Nigerian rockets and astronauts,nothing about the poor.

 

---------- Post added 09-08-2013 at 11:39 ----------

 

All you can hang onto is the Bong, Bongo Land bit just like the knicker wetting lefties.

Wake up and listen to the main point of his speech, stop trying to lay a smoke screen.

 

 

There's no smoke screen,if a politician can't make a point without being crass, bigoted,digging himself into a hole and making himself look like a fool,I would turn to a poltician who can make the same point without doing any of those things.......it really is that simple.

[boyfriday]

I doubt anybody contemplating a UKIP vote would hold such sensitivities

 

...and that's my point, if Bloom ever wants to get serious about holding (and keeping) a political platform he needs to dispense with the sensational and potentially offensive language..digging his heels in and wagging fingers at 'pc, leftie, do gooders' merely distracts and alienates the casual observer from any relevant political message they're trying to disseminate.

 

---------- Post added 09-08-2013 at 12:43 ----------

 

Agreed, his maladroit political skills do not do much to advance the case that UK are a serious party that could be entrusted with power. He still has a point though. Putting aside the affordability issue for the moment, there is a real question as to whether our aid yields any return on the investment or whether we just perpetuate the problems in these regions.

 

Indeed, discussing the effectiveness of aid is an entirely relevant debate to have.

 

I suspect many of the billions we spend on international development is given 'conditionally', enshrined in trade agreements, tax breaks and soft landings for our companies who do business with the recipient country. However notwithstanding that it all needs to be quantified and discussed properly.

[janie48]

It's all here

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development

Aid to India to be phased out.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20265583

 

...and that's my point, if Bloom ever wants to get serious about holding (and keeping) a political platform he needs to dispense with the sensational and potentially offensive language..digging his heels in and wagging fingers at 'pc, leftie, do gooders' merely distracts and alienates the casual observer from any relevant political message they're trying to disseminate..

Even when he is offered a political platform he makes a fool of himself. As demonstrated when he was thrown out of a European debate when drunk.

On BBC Radio Sheffield Monday, he refused to continue an interview and stormed out of the studio because he was asked if he was a racist. I don't think he will be invited back again.

[Zamo]

Let's keep it more simple than that.............the Daily Mail says your money is funding Nigerian rockets and astronauts,nothing about the poor.

 

It surely isnt that difficult to understand is it?!? The complaint the Daily Mail are making is that we are providing aid to the poor of Nigeria instead of their own government who would rather spend their money on a space programme!

 

It is central to the debate about whether we should provide aid to countries who don't have the money to feed their poor but have money for things like space programmes and guns and bombs to kill each other with.

[chalga]

It surely isnt that difficult to understand is it?!? The complaint the Daily Mail are making is that we are providing aid to the poor of Nigeria instead of their own government who would rather spend their money on a space programme!

 

It is central to the debate about whether we should provide aid to countries who don't have the money to feed their poor but have money for things like space programmes and guns and bombs to kill each other with.

 

So why does the headline say this then:

 

How £1billion of your cash is being used to help Nigeria join the space race.

 

It is misinformation and has been exposed as a lie by the Department for International Development.

That is the complaint they are making in their headline.If they want to be specific,then say that Nigeria are spending on astronauts and rockets while their people are living in poverty,instead of trying to come over Godfrey Bloom like.

[dosxuk]

So why does the headline say this then:

 

How £1billion of your cash is being used to help Nigeria join the space race.

 

It is misinformation and has been exposed as a lie by the Department for International Development.

 

It's the Daily Mail. It's in their charter that at least 25% of headlines have to be contradicted by the opening paragraph in their article.

 

They've lowered other targets though, I think it's now only about 5% of headlines that have to be contradicted by another headline on the same page.

[Waldo]

Agreed, his maladroit political skills do not do much to advance the case that UK are a serious party that could be entrusted with power. He still has a point though. Putting aside the affordability issue for the moment, there is a real question as to whether our aid yields any return on the investment or whether we just perpetuate the problems in these regions.

 

I suspect aid is just perpetuate suffering.

 

Where social infrastructure is not in place, corruption is rife, the environment itself is hostile etc; feeding people to keep them alive, so they can bring new life in to the same hostile environment, seems very wrong to me.

 

Of course, the people running the charities who are on £100k+ won't see it as wrong, and I suspect there are many who stand to gain financially from aid programmes, and they'll not be so concerned about the effect of aid on it's recipients, no, they just want to keep the aid tread-mill a turning.

[Peer Gynt]

Yeah, because bongo bongo land is a perfectly normal way to refer to all foreign destinations.

 

---------- Post added 09-08-2013 at 11:58 ----------

 

 

You asked why you can't have money back that is being spent. The answer is self evident. Hence stupid.

 

I don't actually believe that aid money is spent in the way you suggest.

 

I do happen to agree that Pakistan and India don't require aid, and that we should cut it. They can afford a nuclear and a space program, they can afford to look after their own poor.

 

So now you've made it clear, you're happy to pay for Nigerian Rockets and Astronauts at the expense of this countries needy.

 

---------- Post added 09-08-2013 at 15:29 ----------

 

Agreed, his maladroit political skills do not do much to advance the case that UK are a serious party that could be entrusted with power. He still has a point though. Putting aside the affordability issue for the moment, there is a real question as to whether our aid yields any return on the investment or whether we just perpetuate the problems in these regions.

 

Well somebody should make their minds up Overseas Aid is bribery or an act of conscience.

Some people want their cake and eat it.