Why attack ‘trickle-down economics?’ It doesn’t exist – and never has done

Spectator
More fundamentally, economic processes work in the directly opposite way from that depicted by those who imagine that profits first benefit business owners and that benefits only belatedly trickle down to workers."

Bonfire of Britain's Foreign Aid Billions: Swanky new aid offices in India costing £442,000 are just one example of the disturbing way British taxpayers' money is wasted

Daily Mail

The Mail on Sunday has spent months investigating how the foreign aid budget is spent, speaking to diplomats, aid agencies and civil servants, and has established that hundreds of millions of pounds of the £11.7 billion Britain sends overseas – perhaps as much as a quarter – are squandered on unworkable projects and 'consultants' who are little more than private contractors.

More than half of industrialised nations reduced their aid budget between 2013 and 2014, but it was revealed last week that under new European Union rules, Britain's total will swell by £1 billion over the next two years, making it the second-largest donor in the world after the US.

In all, according to UK Aid Network – a coalition of aid groups – the Government is set to spend £12.2 billion on aid this year, accounting for 1.6 per cent of its total spending."

Foreign aid budget to increase by £1 billion

Telegraph

The overseas aid budget will increase by an extra £1 billion over the next two years under new European Union rules, it has emerged.

The Department for International Development (Dfid) is preparing to change accounting methods in order to bring Britain in line with other EU countries, making it harder to meet the controversial aid target in the next parliament, according to The Times.

The UK already spends more than any other country on international agencies and is the second largest aid donor in the world.

Government figures released on Thursday reportedly show that Britain met last year's aid spending target of 0.7 per cent of GDP, totalling £11.7 billion.

They showed that most of the extra cash had gone to international aid agencies rather than projects run by the British government on the ground.

Plans to increase the aid budget were branded "absurd" by several former Tory MPs, who said the money would be much better spent on protecting the armed forces.
Sir Gerald Howarth, former Tory defence minister, told The Times: "What is the point of this arbitrary figure of spending 0.7 per cent of GDP?
"The idea that if we spend this amount all the world's problems will end is so absurd, or that by providing that magic figure we suddenly become paragons of virtue.
"If a change in the formula means the British taxpayer has to contribute yet more in overseas aid despite five years of austerity a lot of people will start questioning the largesse of this country," he added.
"There are many military figures who just don't see the logic of putting money into aid instead of defence."

Nigel Farage Was Right About Health Tourism

Guido Fawkes
Nigel Farage has been round condemned by the commentariat for suggesting that treating foreigners for free on the NHS was not right and that we should, like 46 other countries, not admit foreigners who are HIV positive.

The cost for treatment for HIV positive patients is some £20,000 or more for anti-retroviral drugs every year. Once HIV treatment is started, patients will probably need to take the medication for the rest of their lives. In total, the cost to the NHS could be up to £1 million per patient if they survive into old age from their early twenties."