Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

I realise this is not a TRNC matter, but I am sure that there are some people here who have friends and relatives who have been affected by all the flooding in the UK ,especially in the Somerset flats where property owners have been living knee deep in their own sewage for over a month.

I have listened to on the radio and watched on TV people who have had to leave their homes that they, and in many cases generations of their families have lived in-it's heartbreaking to see.

Now, I know money is tight and everyone(except bankers)are having to do a bit of belt tightening,and indeed that is what the people of flooded areas are being told-that is that there is only so much money to spend and, other than some last minute appearances from ministers and royalty they are going to have to live with it-after all they chose to live there.

Well what is really p******g me off is the fact that if we have no money to help our own own tax paying folk, where the hell are we getting the money from that we send abroad to all sorts of corrupt regimes, and what I would class as wealthy countries.

For example, we sent £293million to India in 2011-a country that can afford to run it's own space program,owns
Jaguar/Land Rover, and all of what used to be British Steel.

Take a look at this map which shows who we give money to and how much we give-

It's a disgrace,we gave £8.6 billion in 2011,now that would pay for an awful lot of flood defences,or hospitals or schools for that matter.

For Gods sake,we gave money to China!!!

I am so annoyed I had to post this, and I think it about time we started looking after 'our own'

PS-It might sound like I'm a 'lefty' far from it! -I voted for this lot-I just don't like seeing decent people being treated badly

I agree 100% well posted ( by the way you need to answer your g e-mails I am waiting a reply from you ) lol

I too agree 100%.

Watching an elderly lady being interviewed on Sky News this evening was heart breaking, especially when she apologised for being near to tears as she's wading through her flooded house.

I'm all for helping those in genuine need, but charity begins (or should) at home.
The Uk is quick to offer other countries help/money in emergencies but as yet I haven't heard of any one offering help to the Uk.

I don't always agree with Nigel Farage (and this is one of the times that I do) but this is what he said on the news 2 days ago including by suspending overseas aid for 2 days only would create a huge sum of money (millions of pounds) to be spent on UK citizens as charity should begin at home.

Also in the daily mail on 6th Feb:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ities.html

I think the whole "Foreign aid" slant is a typical Farage attack.

Now I do not agree with it all but some of that aid goes to people who have nothing, who live in poverty that many on this board could not imagine in their worst nightmare. It also goes to some countries to help keep stability and reduce the chance of poor people becoming radicalised and turning to terror. I am sure there are other positive sides to foreign aid too including just, as one of the bigger economies, just helping those who need it more. I am not saying it should not be cut and I am not saying it is all right.

If we look at the flooding itself. It is the result of prolonged rain and tides which are the worst we have had since standardised records began according to the BBC this morning. It is exacerbated by the fact many rivers have not been dredged, this pre-dates the current government and carries other environmental issues with it. It is impossible to plan for weather on this scale, 18 months ago I was in the UK and there was a hosepipe ban for drought reasons on top of this we are experiencing changes in out climate which also make it harder to plan.

There is not a lot that can be done till the water subsides, with all the pumps in the world you can only move water from one flooded area to another. The media, all of them often does not paint a true picture, focusing on the worst cases that grab headlines, heavily editing and often not painting the true picture. An example of this was the other day they were interviewing a lady at Chesil Beach. They interviewed her live and she was saying it was not that bad, she had seen it a lot worse. The interview was not used again however the reporter continued to report from the same spot saying how dreadful it was. Incidentally the lady interviewed pointed at a house (may have been a pub) that had been partly demolished by severe weather previously, they had rebuilt it, I am not sure why. Media is very slanted it always reports the most fantastic/horrendous/"newsworthy" angles of any stories, Sky and the Daily Mail are some of the worst at this I have seen this first hand.



I feel there is a need to examine the foreign aid budget however I feel it wrong to blame it all on the current coalition government and rather than play the blame game it is important to look at this in the long term. Farage is good at grabbing headlines but lacks content and substance, there is nothing being shown that more money will make a significant difference. I would like to hear him say how he would plan to deal with this.

Having spent my childhood living in a cottage on the banks of the River Severn in Worcestershire, where we were regularly flooded every 2/3 years, I have the greatest sympathy for all these poor people. The flooding itself is bad but afterwards it takes months for the buildings to dry out and everything smells most unpleasant for a very long time. Not to mention all the ruined furniture etc. and the sodden land which also takes a considerable time to drain.

I personally would never buy a property in a flat area or anywhere near even the smallest stream ( which can easily become a raging torrent without too much warning). Best place to live is on a hill! Incidentally also went through the tsunami in Thailand and survived.

Look at some of the countries we give aid to ridiculous. Sometimes I put the word 'bribe' instead of 'aid'. Big piece in the paper this week of salaries of some of these CEO and directors of these charities they are obscene. There must be many retired financial people who could give their time without asking so much, I know one gentleman who does this, perhaps there are more out there. Let us hope we look after these people in UK who need our help now.