Chance for local organisations to be given £1,000 (From Watford Observer)

Any money allocated but not spent on grants will be taken off next years council tax I trust, returning the money to taxpayers?

Change the record please MarsLander

Nascot,

it's a choice between spending wisely or just taking as much money in taxes as possible and just spending.

I would rather keep my money and the council only take as much as they need and then spend it wisely.

I agree with MarsLander. I don't see why youth groups or any other organisations should get money out of people's taxes.

If they want money for whatever reason, then let them hold fund-raising events and raise the cash themselves. If they want something badly enough, they should provide it themselves.

In the current economic climate, many people are sick of organisations and charities constantly holding out the begging bowl.

Roy Stockdill wrote:
I agree with MarsLander. I don't see why youth groups or any other organisations should get money out of people's taxes.

If they want money for whatever reason, then let them hold fund-raising events and raise the cash themselves. If they want something badly enough, they should provide it themselves.

In the current economic climate, many people are sick of organisations and charities constantly holding out the begging bowl.

What a complete and utter A***hole!!!

How charming! I am full of admiration for the elegance, sophistication and wit of your admirable use of the English language. Where did you go to school? Or did you?

On the other hand, perhaps I should ask which particular gutter you crawled out of? Or do you have the logic, intelligence and command of literacy to make your point more precisely?

There are givers and takers in life and some who neither give nor take.

Those who take think that the givers should give more, pay even more taxes so they can take more.

As the government bodies are dishing out other people's money and want to look good, they go along with it, even promote it, after all, they want to be re-elected and they even get paid for it. After all, it's no skin off their nose.

It used to be that individuals gave, to charities or organisations, from their own purse. That is and was very commendable, and I count myself as someone who has given and continues to give to selected charities and organisations, probably more than most.

Nowadays the government, be it central government with Foreign Aid or local governments with grants, decide to donate on our behalf, often to half-baked or unworthy causes, with our money. Overseas a huge amount of money is delivered to criminals and warlords in the name of Aid, other projects are equally objectionable.

There was a time when this would be considered a criminal waste of our money. For many it still is.

Every year nearly a million pounds is given out on the whim of our county councillors - £10,000 each. I doubt any councillor does not spend their whole £10,000 when it can be used to bribe the electorate by "doing nice things locally".

Overall I am not in favour of these grants at all. As Roy says, if you want something then go out and raise the money for it, don't go to the council cap in hand.

When I was involved with a charity we raised every penny we spent. It was tough but we were a worthy cause and we were supported widely in peoples hearts and in their pockets.

Compare that with £500 grants being dished out to local lads football teams. Chalk and cheese.

It's now time to give the taxpayer a break, scrap the grants system and get on with doing the jobs we pay you to do like emptying the bins. I personally would rather have a reduction in my council tax and I suspect a lot of taxpayers out there would agree with me. If we scrap all the unnecessary spending, people would have a lot more money in their pocket and could fund these things themselves from good old charitable giving, if they think the cause is worthy enough.

The responsibility for giving has been taken away from the individual and given to the state. I personally think that is wrong.

Can't disagree with a word of that!

Some of the most outrageous waste of money has been in the area of council grants to politically correct bodies - gay groups, women's rights, ethnic minorities, etc. And lottery money has been granted to some pretty outlandish causes as well under the guise of alleviating alleged poverty and prejudice.

Personally, I will never give a single penny in overseas aid because, as MarsLander says, so much of it never gets to the right people. Instead, it ends up in the pockets of corrupt dictators and officials or is used to buy arms for use in some petty civil war. Look at the unbelievable situation of how much we are giving to India - a country that is developing a nuclear programme instead of feeding its starving millions!

Moreover, handing out cash when they come with the begging bowl only helps to make them even more dependant on western countries instead of trying to fend for themselves and address their own problems, just as benefits claimants in this country get trapped in the "benefits culture" and become even more resistant to going out to work.

I would end all overseas aid tomorrow and make benefits in the UK so difficult to get that claimants are forced to go out and get a job. There are plenty of them going still, but they are mostly being done by foreign immigrants who aren't too proud to do them. The trouble is, no government is willing to grasp the nettle.