Godfrey Bloom, the UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, loathes political correctness, even though his plain speaking has got him into trouble on several occasions. He found himself facing the wrath of the feminist lobby within weeks of his election to the European Parliament in 2004 when he stated that not enough women clean behind the fridge. He was in trouble again in 2009 at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen when he belatedly congratulated the French on their sinking of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour 24 years earlier, and now a new controversy has hit the news. Mr Bloom attacked the UK government's foreign aid policy at a UKIP meeting in the West Midlands in July, saying we should not be sending money to "bongo bongo land."
Naturally the Left are up in arms, with one Labour MP calling for Nigel Farage to expel him from the party. However, while Godders hasn't been very wise in his choice of words, he is actually making a valid point. Inter-governmental foreign aid is wasteful. Maybe not all of our foreign aid is used "to buy Ray-Ban sunglasses, apartments in Paris, Ferraris and all the rest of it", as he put it, but how much of it actually reaches those it is designed to help? I haven't got any detailed statistics, but then, has anyone? There is a growing body of opinion which argues that this sort of aid is actually counterproductive. (see, for example, http://www.ukessays.com/essays/economics/foreign-aid-impacts-on-third-world-countries-economics-essay.php) as corrupt officials siphon some of the money off for their own ends, while the money that does get through actually encourages a dependency culture, rather than helping these nations out of poverty.
There have, of course, been some examples of foreign aid achieving beneficial results. The response to appeals for help following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami has facilitated the rebuilding of many communities whose lives wedevastated by the disaster, However, in this instance, the aid was given for a limited period and a good deal of the reconstruction work was funded by private donations.
And there is an important theological point here. The Bible teaches that charity should be voluntary: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so lethim give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7) Inter-governmental aid does not fit this criterion. It is taken from us by the state without our having any say as to how much is taken and where it is spent (the EU regional aid budget comes into the same category, for that matter.)
So Godfrey Bloom was not just articulating the views of "ordinary people in the rugby and cricket club", as he put it; he was expressing the Biblical truth that international compulsory wealth redistribution is wrong. It's just a pity he chose to do so in such a controversial way.
Naturally the Left are up in arms, with one Labour MP calling for Nigel Farage to expel him from the party. However, while Godders hasn't been very wise in his choice of words, he is actually making a valid point. Inter-governmental foreign aid is wasteful. Maybe not all of our foreign aid is used "to buy Ray-Ban sunglasses, apartments in Paris, Ferraris and all the rest of it", as he put it, but how much of it actually reaches those it is designed to help? I haven't got any detailed statistics, but then, has anyone? There is a growing body of opinion which argues that this sort of aid is actually counterproductive. (see, for example, http://www.ukessays.com/essays/economics/foreign-aid-impacts-on-third-world-countries-economics-essay.php) as corrupt officials siphon some of the money off for their own ends, while the money that does get through actually encourages a dependency culture, rather than helping these nations out of poverty.
There have, of course, been some examples of foreign aid achieving beneficial results. The response to appeals for help following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami has facilitated the rebuilding of many communities whose lives wedevastated by the disaster, However, in this instance, the aid was given for a limited period and a good deal of the reconstruction work was funded by private donations.
And there is an important theological point here. The Bible teaches that charity should be voluntary: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so lethim give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7) Inter-governmental aid does not fit this criterion. It is taken from us by the state without our having any say as to how much is taken and where it is spent (the EU regional aid budget comes into the same category, for that matter.)
So Godfrey Bloom was not just articulating the views of "ordinary people in the rugby and cricket club", as he put it; he was expressing the Biblical truth that international compulsory wealth redistribution is wrong. It's just a pity he chose to do so in such a controversial way.