Defence Spending

[baggiematt]

With the UK issues at home being dire why we are sending billions to Gaza and Ukraine which is staggering. They are not our wars no more than Iran is. Meanwhile our own defence is shocking and everyone laughed at the war ship chugging along to Cyprus! Charity begins at home and that excludes welfare given out like confetti!

Did you google that Derek M left Aberdeen five years ago and at Hearts so certainly mentioning Aberdeen twice was no typo 😭😭😭😭😭

Ukraine is not our war, but we should invest more in defence? To defend us from who exactly?

Come on Al connect the dots

[baggieal]

Ukraine is not our war, but we should invest more in defence? To defend us from who exactly?

Come on Al connect the dots

Ukraine is no more our war than say Iran or Gaza where we like spending billions overseas and zilch at home apart from the obvious in front of our homeless. Good that the Palestine Action Group are still designated terrorists and the ruling was not overturned. Why the emphasis on Palestine and not on other areas of the world where genocide is horrific, We know that answer!

[baggiematt]

Ukraine is no more our war than say Iran or Gaza where we like spending billions overseas and zilch at home apart from the obvious in front of our homeless. Good that the Palestine Action Group are still designated terrorists and the ruling was not overturned. Why the emphasis on Palestine and not on other areas of the world where genocide is horrific, We know that answer!

So if Ukraine is not our war, then why do you criticise Starmer for not increasing military spending? Who is our enemy if Russia are not?

[Omegstrat6]

[QUOTE=On Balance;40834884]Interesting reading Omeg.

I do wonder sometimes if we all actually paint a bleaker picture of the UK than it is in reality.

Interesting to note that Russia is 4th when it comes to immigrants with 11 million. Surprising perhaps, until think about it and you read who they are.

From google:

The vast majority of immigrants in Russia originate from former Soviet republics (Commonwealth of Independent States), with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Kazakhstan representing the largest sources. Additionally, Ukraine has accounted for millions of migrants, and there are also notable populations of Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Moldovan nationalities.[/QIdeal

Morning OB, I initially wondered about the reported figure for Russia too, I mean who would want to live under Putin's regime but then you look at the detail and it begins to make sense as you say.

Regarding your comment about us maybe painting too bleak a picture of things in the UK at the moment, I'm not so sure. Many in other countries have it far worse of course (or they wouldn't try and come here) but I guess everything is relative.

Many remain comfortably well off in this country but an increasing number are not and many are finding that however hard they work, they struggle to improve their lives. The usual concerns over healthcare, education and housing continue. It may be true that this country has gone through worse (e.g. the depression of the 1930s or the 3 day week/ high unemployment of the 1970s -both of which was the rise of populism similar to today) but we also face societal challenges that those generations did not and whilst both social media/ internet and advances in AI/ automation have brought benefits, there is also clearly a large downside to them. Aside from growing evidence over global warming, a world where the likes of Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim jong Un, Netanyahu and Trump can wield such influence also makes things a little worrying.

I think we would all like to think that each generation will be better off than the one before it but while this may be an over all trend, we don't help ourselves by not learning the lessons from history.

Should the fact that we are 5th in terms of countries with the highest levels of immigration be a concern? I believe so. Of course we recruit those from abroad to fill the needs of certain sectors and immigrant communities can enrich our culture but whilst these can bring benefits to the country, the downside is that high levels of immigration both encourage depressed wages/work conditions (whilst some enter well paid sectors, very many immigrants find themselves in low paid jobs) which too easily creates opportunities for exploitation and also puts pressure on the infrastructure of the host country (welfare services, healthcare, education, housing etc).

Difficulties and unrest may not be so apparent while the economy of the host country is booming and it's citizens prospering ( e.g. Saudi or the UEA) but when they begin to feel the pinch of austerity (e.g. the US, Germany or the UK) resentment then rises and we see a growth in populist or more right wing movements. There are only so many people that any country can properly sustain after all.

[On Balance]

With the UK issues at home being dire why we are sending billions to Gaza and Ukraine which is staggering. They are not our wars no more than Iran is. Meanwhile our own defence is shocking and everyone laughed at the war ship chugging along to Cyprus! Charity begins at home and that excludes welfare given out like confetti!

Did you google that Derek M left Aberdeen five years ago and at Hearts so certainly mentioning Aberdeen twice was no typo 😭😭😭😭😭

Now that was embarrassingly incorrect Al. No Al, i did not Google it obviously, if I had it may not have had a brain fart. Anyway, unlike some I wouldn't make up any excuse or try to change the subject matter. I'll put my hands and say what a twohat l am.. A howler of an error. 🙄.

Thank you for pointing it out though. 🤣👍

[soulman101]

According to to the numbers, we have given more to Gaza than the whole EU .
Add the aid we give to the rest of of the World we must be mad .
We borrow money and pay interest to give it away .

[baggieal]

According to to the numbers, we have given more to Gaza than the whole EU .
Add the aid we give to the rest of of the World we must be mad .
We borrow money and pay interest to give it away .

And why do we give lots of money to Gaza Lloyd?
To please many who vote Labour albeit a good proportion now vote Green 😭

Poland used to be called second rate but many say it?s more advanced now than the UK because they have zero tolerance and invest at home.

[soulman101]

And why do we give lots of money to Gaza Lloyd?
To please many who vote Labour albeit a good proportion now vote Green ��

Poland used to be called second rate but many say it?s more advanced now than the UK because they have zero tolerance and invest at home.

Giving money away when you are debt doesn't make sense to me .
If your bank account was in thred and credit cards were maxed out , if you went to see the bank manager for a loan to give to charity you could imagine his reply

[Omegstrat6]

According to to the numbers, we have given more to Gaza than the whole EU .
Add the aid we give to the rest of of the World we must be mad .
We borrow money and pay interest to give it away .

Hi Soulman, hope you are good.

According to the figures I have from the official UK govt website, the UK will have spent some £296 million on aid to Gaza since 2023 but this includes the projected figure for this year. The EU was reported elsewhere to have spent some 450 million USD (about £388 million) since 2023 but this figure does not include the projection for this year.

Even so, it is clear that the UK spends significantly more on aid to Gaza than many EU countries. It may be a worthy cause and one I believe we should continue to lend aid to but surely the present economic climate means we should cut back on all foreign aid for the time being at least.

Regardless of the IMF still reporting the UK as being the 5th country in terms of GDP (the money from that has to be somewhere-it's sadly not under my bed though &#128513 we have too many domestic issues to try and resolve that are crying out for funding. As they say, charity begins at home. I don't believe that should stop us from still helping others in need of humanitarian aid but it should certainly make us reconsider how much we do give.

[soulman101]

Hi Soulman, hope you are good.

According to the figures I have from the official UK govt website, the UK will have spent some £296 million on aid to Gaza since 2023 but this includes the projected figure for this year. The EU was reported elsewhere to have spent some 450 million USD (about £388 million) since 2023 but this figure does not include the projection for this year.

Even so, it is clear that the UK spends significantly more on aid to Gaza than many EU countries. It may be a worthy cause and one I believe we should continue to lend aid to but surely the present economic climate means we should cut back on all foreign aid for the time being at least.

Regardless of the IMF still reporting the UK as being the 5th country in terms of GDP (the money from that has to be somewhere-it's sadly not under my bed though &#128513 we have too many domestic issues to try and resolve that are crying out for funding. As they say, charity begins at home. I don't believe that should stop us from still helping others in need of humanitarian aid but it should certainly make us reconsider how much we do give.

hi , I'm doing good thanks,
hope you and your family are well .
I'm all for giving money to help people ,as long as you live within your means .
We have standing orders to a few charity's, but if I found we was struggling I would cut them without feeling any guilt .
But on the other hand if I come in to a lot of money, after helping family I would make a few charity donations .

[Omegstrat6]

hi , I'm doing good thanks,
hope you and your family are well .
I'm all for giving money to help people ,as long as you live within your means .
We have standing orders to a few charity's, but if I found we was struggling I would cut them without feeling any guilt .
But on the other hand if I come in to a lot of money, after helping family I would make a few charity donations .

Morning Soulman,
We're all good thankyou.

Totally agree with your attitude on finances. When it was apparent our youngest was on the spectrum and we got a formal diagnosis it meant that the better half had to give up her job to look after him at home as he could not cope with school. Aside from the stresses of worrying about our son's medical condition as well as his AS , this had a huge impact on our finances and a combination of that and his needs ultimately led us to lose the house. For years I had fretted over money and had used credit cards to try and cover the costs and "rob Peter to pay Paul" but have never had a credit card since and now only spend what I have.

When I stepped down from my management role to help out more with our son our income was much further reduced and things are tight but at least I don't have the worry anymore of trying to manage any debt. The country however-rather like the Premier League!-is very much dependent on borrowing. This seems to be the norm for most countries of course and the debt helps fund so many of our services that while adding foreign aid costs to the bill might seem crazy, it is simply how the global system works.

I make no claims to properly understand how these international finances work myself but its quite scary when you look into it as even with the debt of the post war Marshall Plan finally now paid off to the US, the National Debt is estimated to be around £292.7 billion which seems dangerously high at over 95% of our GDP.