IF you had neighbours who burned through the cash reserves of their family and friends, you would think they were terrible people. If they spent money on pet projects to the neglect of their children, you might even call social services. In fact, if they plunged their children and yet unborn grandchildren into gargantuan levels of debts you would take a dim view of their financial habits.
If you witnessed the husband sending vanloads of money to his mate who was in trouble after getting into an argument with his neighbour, you might think he had lost the plot. If this continued and your neighbour continued to shovel huge amounts of other people’s money to this mate (who is never out of your neighbour’s house) and for some reason is always, always wearing olive green, you might even get very angry indeed.
As such, I was very angry when I heard that the UK had found yet another £2.5billion, billion! to send over to Ukraine. Fancy that, finding £2.5billion down the back of the sofa, when the UK general government gross debt was £2,537billion at the end of Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2023, equivalent to 100.5 per cent of gross domestic product.
The BBC informs us that ‘Rishi Sunak has vowed that Ukraine “will never be alone” as the UK announced £2.5bn of military aid to Ukraine over the coming year. It is the UK’s largest annual commitment since Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The PM made the announcement as he met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv and signed the new agreement.
‘Mr Sunak said that the support was vital because if Vladimir Putin “wins in Ukraine, he will not stop there”.’ (Is this the return of the domino theory?) ‘Officials said the package will provide Ukraine with long-range missiles, air defence and artillery shells. Some £200million will be spent on drones.
‘They said the military package – for the next financial year beginning in April – would result in the largest delivery of drones, most of which will be UK-made, to Ukraine by any country. Significantly, the prime minister has decided not to make a financial commitment lasting several years.’
That’s really nice of Sunak, that is. Good to know that although the UK taxpayer cannot see an NHS dentist for months on end, he is able to fund £200million worth of drones (made in Britain) to President Zelensky. Fantastic.
What’s that you say, your child is learning phonics in the safety of a portaloo or something because the school building is falling down? Not to worry, the main thing is that the Ukraine gets lots and lots of long-range missiles. ‘M is for missile, m, m missile.’
Feeling a bit chilly there with the whole cost-of-living situation and you have to call on your elderly mother twice a day to make sure she doesn’t die of hypothermia? Tell her that her sacrifice is worth it, the lad with the olive-green T-shirt said he needed some artillery shells, and that is more important than elderly pensioners staying alive during the big freeze.
Not surprisingly, just a few days after the big giveaway was announced, the news dropped that ‘the Conservatives are on course for a 1997-style electoral wipe-out, a major new poll commissioned by Tory critics of Rishi Sunak suggests’.
You bet they are, and they’ll deserve it too.