The British Government, through the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Richi Sunak, has decided to cut its Foreign aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5%.
That equates to about £4Billion - the same amount as the increase in the Defence Budget.
This decision speaks volumes about the mindset of the present-day Conservatives and Borris Johnson's absence of imagination, foresight and leadership.
The much-awaited Brexit deal is in the balance
The British Fishing Industry accounts for 0.02% of GDP and yet is possibly going to be the catalyst for a No-Deal Brexit, which will put thousands of jobs at risk, as well as cost Britain 10% of its GDP. Not to mention the hassles, delays and shortages that will result from a No Deal. It just might be that Johnson, aided by Lord Frost, planned it this way all along.
The irony is that if you are talking about being Green - if you are anti-pollution and want to restore nature, we should only be eating fish from sustainable resources, to which the answer is not a reinvigorated British fishing fleet.
Trump and Barr sink lower than anyone thought possible
So Trump, aided by his lackey, Willian Barr, the U.S. Attorney General have decided to start killing people while they still can. They have another fifty-four days in which to kill as many Convicted Death Row inmates on Federal sentences as possible. In order to do that they have moved the goalposts and legalised other means of killing by the state; namely electrocution and shooting by firing squad.
Trump also most likely has some involvement in the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. The bottom line is Trump is laying down his creation of a "scorched Earth Policy" to leave President-elect Biden and the United States of America as many problems as he can by the time he leaves the White House.
He is bitter and resentful and is incapable of facing up to the truth. He is the little boy in the playground who only wins by cheating and cries foul when, even with his stacked deck, he loses.
He has given a Presidential Pardon to his scheming and lying friend, Roger Stone and now also to the disgraced ex-Army General, Michael Flynn.
Trump and McConnell's unfair, if not illegitimate far-right appointments to the Supreme Court have this week brought in a ruling that has made the supreme court look silly. The ruling, by 5 to 4; preventing the New York Mayor from limiting religious gatherings, even to hinder the spread of COVID 19 - for the good of everyone. So it is more important to pray with others than to stay alive and keep others alive. So congregating in a church is worth dying for and perhaps causing the death of others. Is that really a principle worth dying for? Is that the teaching of the Holy Bible? Idiots.
The damage that this man Trump has done to the United States of America and the rest of the world is incalculable. Far from making America Great, he has destroyed the name and sullied the reputation of this once great country.
President-Elect Biden has certainly got his work cut out if he is to put America back at the top of the tree as Leader of the Free World.
Stand up fearlessly to COVID or be selfless and sensible and isolate as much as possible?
The Far-Right Torys seem to be at it again. Led by characters like Mark Harper, ex-chief whip and Steve Baker, the same Steve Baker who was a notorious member of the European Research Group, otherwise known as the ERG pro-Brexit group. Always protesting about something, this time voicing their opposition to Lock-Downs which are imposed to prevent COVID 19 killing even more people than it has or would otherwise.
I am sure Steve Baker is a nice man but, for all his apparent education, perhaps even intelligence, how does he arrive at the Trumpian proposition that principles and economics are more important than saving lives.
He is not alone, of course; sadly, there is a clear division throughout the country. I listened to an interview by an American Nurse called Chelsea Walsh, who is a Covid Crises Nurse in the states, and I read an article by a Doctor working in the NHS here in the U.K. They were both genuinely and heart-wrenchingly touching, and I would recommend both these pieces to anyone who does not believe how catastrophic COVID 19 can be. The bottom line from both the Covid Crises Nurse and the NHS Doctor is this; You really DO NOT want to catch COVID 19.
I can't help feeling that if Steve Baker (or any of his cohorts) caught it and were suffering to the point of dying or nearly dying, he would have a very rapid change of heart.
Furthermore, of course, there is the very real issue of looking after and protecting our medical practitioners who work tirelessly to preserve life. Surely we have a duty of care to them as well.
West Points Prayer
I read an opinion piece by New York Times writer, Thomas Friedman, well worth a read. He drew attention to the West Point Cadet Prayer It talks about "Strengthen and increase our admiration for honest dealing and clean thinking", and the bit Thomas Friedman focused on was "Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong".
Sadly, far too many of our people with power; Politicians and leaders go for "the easier wrong", and it is a constant source of revelation and hope that so many people with so much less head for the high ground of "the harder right".
Rick - Suffolk - U.K. - 27th November - 2020
www.ricknotesfromengland.co.uk
Comments