The Yorkshire Post says: Let us put our own house in order before spending abroad

LISTENING to the radio, I was stunned to hear that the Department for International Development was possiblly re-considering the £100m aid that they give annually to Myanmar, feeling uncomfortable that it could be misused. Did I hear rightly? That is £100m of our hard-earned money.

It appears that DfID has over £13bn of taxpayer funds to distribute each year, much of it going to wealthy countries. I do have to question the logic of this Government (thanks to David Cameron linking aid spending to GDP) squandering our money while we are all still suffering crippling austerity measures.

Our cities are full of homeless people. Our NHS is in crisis. There’s a chronic shortage of affordable housing, our police force is so shorthanded and under-funded it has made the UK a criminals’ paradise. Our rail transport structure is laughable, and arguably our roads are more suitable to testing Land Rovers on – so surely the surplus money in the Treasury’s coffers should be spent on getting this country in a fit state before worrying about other countries and their problems?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not adverse to charity or good causes and I contribute to many: however it seems to me that this Government is more interested in impressing other nations by playing the great benefactor than looking after its own citizens – fiddling while Rome burns comes to mind.

Squandering money on questionable projects such as HS2 and HS3 costing trillions, but with little benefit to the average working man is one example, and there are thousands more that escape notice. Shouldn’t we be looking to make our country work first, and then, when it is working properly, that will be the time that we can afford to be generous and help others?

Frankly I consider this Government is just not fit for purpose, but the sad thing is that currently there isn’t a viable opposition – Labour and the Lib Dems being lost causes.

From: Pauline Wheat-Bowen, Member of Huddersfield Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

WILL the US and Israel be held accountable for the recent massacre of Palestinians as the US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem?

Now is the time to act, now is the time to say enough blood has been shed and now is the time for the international community to come together to openly and boldly condemn the slaughter of the Palestinian people.

Now is that time.