From the [gasp!] BNP - More than enough, I suppose, for the majority of 
chimps in this group to completely disregard the message.

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No Money to Train British Soldiers Going to War — but Millions for 
Yemenis and Third World Farmers

October 10, 2009 by BNP News


wounded-british-soldier-afghanistanThe Territorial Army has been ordered 
to halt all activity for six months to save £20 million — in the same 
week that the Foreign Office has given £12 million to Third World 
farmers, £3 million to Indonesia and £2 million to 150,000 Yemeni refugees.

The freeze on all TA training will inevitably impact on the army’s 
performance in Afghanistan, as about 1,200 TA personnel serve in that 
theatre. It means that TA members called up for active service will not 
have the same level of preparation as full-time soldiers or TA recruits 
already serving there.

The scandal of a cutback in training follows earlier reports that 
British troops are supplied with insufficient and low grade equipment. 
This puts troops at an even greater risk than before in the already 
extremely dangerous Helmand province.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “These are challenging times and 
like all Government departments, we have to live within our means. We 
routinely review our spending to balance priorities, focusing on the 
highest priorities including on our operations, particularly in 
Afghanistan.”

There is obviously no shortage of money for foreign aid handouts, 
however. At the same time the TA cutbacks were made, the Department of 
International Development announced a number of grants to the Third 
World, which included the following:

– On 8 October 2009, International Development secretary Douglas 
Alexander increased British taxpayer support to Indonesia to £3 million 
to provide help to earthquake victims and to protect that country 
“against future disasters” although it is not said exactly how that is 
to be achieved.

– On 9 October 2009, Mr Alexander increased British taxpayer-funded aid 
by £2 million to give “support to those driven out of their homes by the 
ongoing conflict in Yemen.”

This is on top of the £2.54 million already provided to the UN World 
Food Programme agency operation in Sa’dah since December 2007.

– On 10 October 2009 Mr Alexander announced that British taxpayers have 
given £12 million in new funding for Fairtrade, to “help twice as many 
farmers in the developing world work their way out of poverty.”

The DFID has supported Fairtrade since 1997 and has provided £3m to 
finance work to “develop more products.”

In other words, the lives of British soldiers are not worth as much as 
farmers in the Third World, according to the Government.

http://tinyurl.com/yjxvqmd