UK charity case

The factfinding United Nations poverty envoy who visited some of the UK’S poorest areas ruffled government feathers by criticising the impact of its Universal Credit scheme and saying 14 million people live in relative poverty, and the annual Joseph Rowntree Foundation state of the nation report confirms that a fifth of the population do.

The UK was the only G7 nation to meet the overseas aid target, spending over £14 billion. Angus Deaton, Scotsborn Nobel Laureate in economics, has warned on how aid gets distributed, suggest

ing that it can lead to corruption and widening the gap between elites and people.

Nigeria has received more than £1 billion in aid since 2010, yet people in that oilrich country are missing out

on over £4 billion in shared profits as result of deals the oil companies struck with its government – now under investigation over claims of political corruption – and cash handouts to politicians and officials.

Pakistan – a nuclear power – was the biggest annual recipient of aid, with more than £400 million.

Sleep in the Park events in this country highlighted the homelessness which is visibly growing on our streets. With government borrowing and mounting public debt this past decade, UK taxpayers may sooner rather than later come to realise what is meant by charity begins at home.

JIM CRAIGEN Downie Grove, Edinburgh