Hope you're all keeping dry and safe

No we are not. Predictably Nicholas Stern was given a fair yardage in the Grauniad the other day to pour forth his well known point of view. And if memory serves he even referred to China in glowing terms and ranked it among the poorer countries of the world. He must have missed out their latest GDP figures and per capita earnings!

We’re missing only ‘global warming’.

Meanwhile back at the original thread…. (why do we need two?)

It’s rather sad that all sections of the press seem to want to do is blame someone. It’s the weather. Pure and simple. The wettest since records began.

The price of butter. I feel a new thread coming on…….!:D

And neither do I, but what’s that got to do with the price of butter :dev2:

I actually changed my answer, but I didn’t swop the quote……. Ohhh I’m a bad un :p

I don’t see the connection between the quotation and your comment.

And leaving aside the element of corruption in some countries to whom we give aid, some beneficiaries suffer extremes of weather and devastation the like of which we can barely imagine.

Yup, the thing with these floods is no one gave a flying f*ck about the poor sods in Somerset for for months until the press started making those folks get something done about it, disgusting. I think the likes of Cameroon was hoping it would all be water under the proverbial bridge, a storm in a teacup.

.What percentage of the population is flooded 1% maybe ,yet the PM says he will spend all the money they require–hang on what about the other 99% of the country that are struggling and being financially strangled.
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1%? More like 0.1%. A sense of proportion is certainly required and the stampede of politicians onto the bandwagon is embarrassing. We have experienced weather extremes before and thousands of people have been flooded or their homes suffered substantial damage due to high winds and/or heavy snowfall many times in past years. Indeed hundred of people were homeless for Christmas due to flooding in Wales and parts of the north west in December 2012. This does not detract from the misery they are suffering now but wall to wall media coverage with reporters handily placed in flood water does nothing to put the disaster in perspective.

And leaving aside the element of corruption in some countries to whom we give aid, some beneficiaries suffer extremes of weather and devastation the like of which we can barely imagine.

I have to say that I find this linking of the UK floods and the overseas aid budget very distasteful

I wasn’t linking anything to any aid, just when major disasters like flooding in other parts of the world happen, we rightly help out, that should work both ways.

The floods have been caused by the weather – lots of it. No-one can say for certain if dredging/defences etc would have helped but lots of people seem to be wise after the event.

Dredging is only part of it, the main part in my eyes is building on flood plains, a flood plain is exactly that, an area of land that a river floods onto as rivers rise, building on them causes two problems, one it floods the properties on it and two the water that would naturally soak away on it lose’s the ability to, due to houses, buildings, paved areas, roads etc preventing it soaking away, so it has to go somewhere. Additionally all the flood defences in the world are great, BUT they do not stop flooding, they simply shift the problem downstream to where there are no flood defences that can cope.

I was never for helping rich liars line their own pockets whilst pretending to be a charity abroad — oh my goodness how can i possibly say such things ,nasty me.We raise billions of pounds a year with live aid this,children in need that and guess what in a hundred years we will still be doing the same whilst a corrupt government official in these same countries asking for aid sells arms and drugs to keep his country poor and him rich.
Here’s another thing–when a vote winning area gets flooded all of a sudden all the big nobs turn up-coincidence,no .What percentage of the population is flooded 1% maybe ,yet the PM says he will spend all the money they require–hang on what about the other 99% of the country that are struggling and being financially strangled.
The flooded homes will be repaired,the insurances are taken out for these reasons.
The money is needed to go back into the environment people who had the money taken away from them by –oh let me guess -politicians.

“The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) budget has been cut by £500m since 2010 and must find £300m in savings by 2016.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25623157 7th January BEFORE the Thames area flooded.
I bet this flood will cost a damn sight more than the money the politicians thought they would save – spending a pound to save a penny springs to mind.

And you would complain if they never appeared at all.

I have to say that I find this linking of the UK floods and the overseas aid budget very distasteful and is fairly typical of the UKIP/Daily Mail type intellect.
Those who benefit from UK aid should not be denied help because of some tawdry campaign by the worst aspects of the UK press. The Prime Minister has stated that “money is no object” so funds do not need to be diverted from anywhere.

The floods have been caused by the weather – lots of it. No-one can say for certain if dredging/defences etc would have helped but lots of people seem to be wise after the event.

But don’t you just feel better for giving :rolleyes:

We have escaped so far here.I find it amazing,you want to get hold of a politician ,all you need is a vote winning/losing disaster and they all creep out of the woodwork accompanied by press,security and yes men.

RE 1

Don’t hold your breath on that one Tony ! It’s only ever one way.

Here in the North West, flooding not a major problem, but the wind has taken a wrecking ball to the area as the low pressure passes through.

And to think I was moaning about a small leak into my conservatory!

My thoughts and best wishes to all those affected, both in the UK and elsewhere.

Be safe…

No news on India or Pakistan sending us disaster aid yet…:rolleyes:

Maybe when our floods are as bad as theirs then they might…..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-23282347

Kind thought for those to the West and the Thames Valley…..

Worry not, Tony, I am sure it’s on its way!