Financing flood prevention

Hmmmmm………. Less foreign aid = more aid for UK floods ? 

Today's thoughts are quite unsurprisingly about rain, not just rain in general, but the current mass of rain, causing flooding in many southern counties. Iv recently read an article in the independent, speaking openly about the responses from politicians and the relevant authorities. Quite unsurprisingly it touched on ‘foreign aid’, the fact that we seem to have our pockets widely open for developing countries, but rationing spends in the United Kingdom. Quick thinkers then come to a conclusion, less foreign aid = more national aid.  

This is definitely a very touchy topic, as people openly side step the topic, but like many problems in the world, I’ll dare to stick my finger in the hornets nest and give it a little wiggle. So firstly what is the problem ? Not surprisingly changes in the climate have caused increased rainfall (record rainfall in fact) and flood plains have been built on. Quite obviously with more rainfall and less places for the water to go, floods will happen.

But what about finance, should we begin taking chunks of the foreign aid budget, and using it on flood defences, improved drainage and flooding disaster relief. There’s probably a rather valid argument for doing so, as it could be argued that foreign aid doesn’t reach those in poverty, being intercepted by leaders and dictators. Or maybe some people question the value for money, and if aid has any real value for us, bettering our country?  I myself seem to think the problem isn’t if we should spend foreign aid in other countries, but how! We should concentrate on getting value for money, get people on the ground, with the responsibility of bettering people stricken by poverty.

But what about these floods, you ask as I begin getting side tracked. Well …… we really do need to get our priorities sorted. I wonder if some ‘projects’ should be replaced by flood defence projects. Maybe big plans such as the High-speed 2 (HS2 - £80 billion) should be swapped or edited for flood defence. I’m sure there’s plenty of money spent that when in comparison, to saving large parts of the country from flooding, seem less of a priority.