Government aid to Haiti

[Jeneral2885]

Been looking at the discussion on Haiti on another forum where some claim aid to Haiti should not come from the UK government but from individual donations only. Any views about government humanitarian aid to disasters? Should governments give humanitarian aid or should that be left to NGOs or individual contributions?

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. I think governments should give disaster aid

both in kind, and as money (either to a foreign government, if it's trustworthy and in a position to be able to spend it, or to NGOs that are well placed to spend it). Individuals can give on their own account for their own reasons (which may include 'my government doesn't give as much as it should').

[LeftishBrit]

2. Strongly agree

[Jeneral2885]

3. Thanks for the replies

However, opposing views have also be voiced

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/international-politics/70825-uk-humanitarian-assistance-haiti.html

[LeftishBrit]

4. Well, I don't think many of us here are going to see eye to eye with someone with the username of

'British Conservativism'.

He seems to combine the Right's two big principles: xenophobia and meanness.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. I haven't read through the whole thread

(anyone with an Enoch Powell avatar has got to be really horrible to converse with; you have my sympathies), but you could try asking the 'conservative' if declaring war on Germany for invading Poland was a bad thing for the British government to do. If he says "no, that was fine", ask why killing people and putting your own military at risk of death is better than giving people money as a way to solve international problems.

[LeftishBrit]

5. BTW, the Disasters Emergency Committee are now co-ordinating charities' efforts

www.dec.org.uk

[T_i_B]

7. Blog post with plenty of info for helping Haiti

http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2010/01/14/help-haiti/

[T_i_B]

8. The Mail just doesn't care about Haiti

Blog post about the Daily Fail's abysmal coverage of the haiti earthquake

http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/2010/01/mail-makes-haiti-top-story-when-they.html

So where, exactly, did the Mail place its coverage in the print edition?

Flicking through, there are stories about:

Conservative Party plans on alcohol and teachers' pay.
Swine flu.
Nick Clegg, faith schools and homosexuality.
The BBC and U2.
A 106-year-old woman 'forced to leave the home she loved'.
Gary McKinnon.
Britain being out of recession (buried on page 6).
Madeleine McCann.
The Chilcot Inquiry.
Weather warnings.
Lawyers trying to gag an MP.

And there are also articles about:

A policeman who is 5ft tall.
How women's handbags are 57% lighter than two years ago.
Dannii Minogue being pregnant.
A review of the Legally Blonde stage show.

And it is only after all that, on pages 12 and 13, that the Mail finds room for the Haiti earthquake. Even then, page 12 is half taken up with a Tesco advert for Bold washing powder. 'Lighten the load' it says, next to pictures of a child with bandages around its head and a dazed woman crawling over rubble.

Page 13 contains the longest article of the spread - and that is a short history of Haiti titled 'Rape, murder and voodoo on the island of the damned' which hardly mentions the quake among all the stereotypes. Meanwhile, the main article is 25 unrevealing sentences long.