Recently I posted a blog here which purported to be a leaked version of George Osborne's upcoming Autumn Statement. This was a spoof but some people took it more seriously. Perhaps that's because it is the sort of thing that Osborne should be saying?
The United Kingdom now has a national debt in excess of £1.4 Trillion. I am not even sure I know how many zeros that represents but I do know it's a lot.
Britain is now paying more than £55Bn a year in interest on its debt. That's more than we spend on defence!
I was thinking about this and watching a news clip that was showing Bono and Sir Bob Geldorf talking about aid for Africa and so on and Bono commented that Britain was one of the few countries that actually lived-up to its international aid commitments. I was proud, for a moment, then the news moved on.
I have been thinking about that moment, for a while and no longer feel proud. I feel ashamed. Ashamed that Britain is impoverishing its own people and future generations to provide aid to other nations.
That's right, Britain is borrowing money so that it can give the borrowed money to other countries to feed their hungry and homeless, while the hungry and homeless in Britain continue to be hungry and homeless. The lunatics have truly taken over the asylum.
Any spending by government on aid has to start from the premise that charity begins at home. In what parallel universe can it make an iota of sense that Britain borrows money to give to others?
Probably in the same parallel universe where it makes some kind of sense to be involved in the 2014 version of the arms race. Instead of building dreadnoughts, the race is about NHS funding. The Conservatives are trying to out-Labour, Labour on the NHS by ring-fencing spending. They absolutely know that the NHS is a black hole that could, almost as soon as tomorrow, swallow the whole UK GDP and still need more money. They know that the second biggest problem with the NHS is actually PFI. The NHS, under the last Labour government, borrowed massively to build new hospitals and offices for their army of managers and executives. Now they are spending money that should be spent on front-line health-care provision, funding this spending splurge.
Again, the UK government is borrowing money and impoverishing our people and our children and our children's children, to fund this.
The deficit isn't coming down and neither is debt.
It is bad enough that politicians don't have the courage to do the right thing - to tell the people of Britain, what the people already know - that we are 'broke', 'skint' 'borasic' call it what you will - and we must cut back spending in order to survive and that these cuts will have to be severe.
We cannot afford a high welfare bill, while also funding local spending, so 'welfare' has to be 'earned'.
We cannot simply borrow to fund overseas aid - our first priority must be charity spending in the UK or rather not spending what we don't have.
We cannot police the world - we cannot afford it. If certain nations want us to fight or bomb ISIS and other terror organisations then those nations must fully fund such actions. Same goes for the fight against Ebola. In the extreme we are an island and have a natural barrier to the spread of foreign sourced contagious diseases, so why must Britain be at the forefront of spending its money - money which it has to borrow - to put troops and resources into Africa?
We cannot afford the European Union. The funding of this un-elected and highly inefficient bureaucracy is simply unacceptable. Remember these are the same people, who, when the individual countries of Europe were implementing various levels of domestic austerity, these Eurocrats put forward a budget calling for them to have increased funding from member states. That act, displaying such a dis-connection from the real world should be enough to cause Britain to distance itself from such madness. Instead, Britain must borrow money to fund such lunacy.
We borrow, borrow, borrow.
We borrow to fund International Aid, to fund military adventures overseas, to fund a European monster that needs constant feeding, to fund international banks and lending institutions that suck funds from the NHS before a drug is bought or a nurse or doctor is paid and to fund an over-generous welfare system (that treats those who have never paid a penny into the 'system' the same as or better than those that have).
The spending priorities for the UK desperately need to change.
So here is a challenge for politicians. Stand-up and be counted. Stand-up and justify why the UK must continue to borrow money to send to countries that can afford their own space programme and yet has its own people depending on the charity of others through food banks. I have nothing against food banks, by the way, I think they are an excellent way for us to show that we care for our fellow citizens and I see these as a great benefit in terms of the voluntary nature of the wealth redistribution and also of the spirit of compassion and humanity to our fellow countrymen. I struggle though to understand why my children and grandchildren must suffer so that others can drive around in 4x4s doing 'good' in faraway places!
Any politicians out there, ready to take-up the challenge? Self health tip - I am not holding my breath!
The United Kingdom now has a national debt in excess of £1.4 Trillion. I am not even sure I know how many zeros that represents but I do know it's a lot.
Britain is now paying more than £55Bn a year in interest on its debt. That's more than we spend on defence!
I was thinking about this and watching a news clip that was showing Bono and Sir Bob Geldorf talking about aid for Africa and so on and Bono commented that Britain was one of the few countries that actually lived-up to its international aid commitments. I was proud, for a moment, then the news moved on.
I have been thinking about that moment, for a while and no longer feel proud. I feel ashamed. Ashamed that Britain is impoverishing its own people and future generations to provide aid to other nations.
That's right, Britain is borrowing money so that it can give the borrowed money to other countries to feed their hungry and homeless, while the hungry and homeless in Britain continue to be hungry and homeless. The lunatics have truly taken over the asylum.
Any spending by government on aid has to start from the premise that charity begins at home. In what parallel universe can it make an iota of sense that Britain borrows money to give to others?
Probably in the same parallel universe where it makes some kind of sense to be involved in the 2014 version of the arms race. Instead of building dreadnoughts, the race is about NHS funding. The Conservatives are trying to out-Labour, Labour on the NHS by ring-fencing spending. They absolutely know that the NHS is a black hole that could, almost as soon as tomorrow, swallow the whole UK GDP and still need more money. They know that the second biggest problem with the NHS is actually PFI. The NHS, under the last Labour government, borrowed massively to build new hospitals and offices for their army of managers and executives. Now they are spending money that should be spent on front-line health-care provision, funding this spending splurge.
Again, the UK government is borrowing money and impoverishing our people and our children and our children's children, to fund this.
The deficit isn't coming down and neither is debt.
It is bad enough that politicians don't have the courage to do the right thing - to tell the people of Britain, what the people already know - that we are 'broke', 'skint' 'borasic' call it what you will - and we must cut back spending in order to survive and that these cuts will have to be severe.
We cannot afford a high welfare bill, while also funding local spending, so 'welfare' has to be 'earned'.
We cannot simply borrow to fund overseas aid - our first priority must be charity spending in the UK or rather not spending what we don't have.
We cannot police the world - we cannot afford it. If certain nations want us to fight or bomb ISIS and other terror organisations then those nations must fully fund such actions. Same goes for the fight against Ebola. In the extreme we are an island and have a natural barrier to the spread of foreign sourced contagious diseases, so why must Britain be at the forefront of spending its money - money which it has to borrow - to put troops and resources into Africa?
We cannot afford the European Union. The funding of this un-elected and highly inefficient bureaucracy is simply unacceptable. Remember these are the same people, who, when the individual countries of Europe were implementing various levels of domestic austerity, these Eurocrats put forward a budget calling for them to have increased funding from member states. That act, displaying such a dis-connection from the real world should be enough to cause Britain to distance itself from such madness. Instead, Britain must borrow money to fund such lunacy.
We borrow, borrow, borrow.
We borrow to fund International Aid, to fund military adventures overseas, to fund a European monster that needs constant feeding, to fund international banks and lending institutions that suck funds from the NHS before a drug is bought or a nurse or doctor is paid and to fund an over-generous welfare system (that treats those who have never paid a penny into the 'system' the same as or better than those that have).
The spending priorities for the UK desperately need to change.
So here is a challenge for politicians. Stand-up and be counted. Stand-up and justify why the UK must continue to borrow money to send to countries that can afford their own space programme and yet has its own people depending on the charity of others through food banks. I have nothing against food banks, by the way, I think they are an excellent way for us to show that we care for our fellow citizens and I see these as a great benefit in terms of the voluntary nature of the wealth redistribution and also of the spirit of compassion and humanity to our fellow countrymen. I struggle though to understand why my children and grandchildren must suffer so that others can drive around in 4x4s doing 'good' in faraway places!
Any politicians out there, ready to take-up the challenge? Self health tip - I am not holding my breath!