The UK gives 0.7p per £1 on Overseas Development Aid. Is our government spending the money wisely? Is it really helping some of the poorest people in the world? At present some of the money is spent on the military, counter-terrorism projects and to promote the interests of British corporations. Is that a good use of the money? We had a lively and critical thinking discussion on this topic central to global justice.
Some of us joined the Trump demonstration in London on 13th July. We joined Global Justice Now’s trade block. We were drawing people’s attention to the danger of a trade deal with America which would effect our food safety standards. Some people were dressed as chickens while Margaret’s poor bedraggled chicken from America was getting swamped in chlorine before being put on sale in our supermarkets.
t medicines. 
We had an excellent event on 16th May, meeting John Christensen and watching the film ‘The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire’. We were impressed by John’s amazing knowledge and by his commitment to closing the loopholes which allow the injustice of tax-havens to continue.
John pointed out that the film is available to hire on Vimeo https://vimeo.com for just £3.01 and it will be available free on U-Tube from August. You can see more information about the film at: www.togethertv.com/blog/spiders-web-tax-haven-heart-britain
7.30pm Wed 2nd May: ‘For richer, for poorer? Trade Justice after Brexit’ by Guy Taylor
Guy brought us up to date with the current situation. Our government is lining up new trade deals behind closed doors. Not even our members of parliament will be able to scrutinise them. There is particular concern that trade deals with India are likely to force India to accept tight intellectual property laws thereby making it too costly for them to continue replicating medicines at prices affordable to those who desperately need them around them world; there is fear that the US wants to privatise our NHS, and there is worry that talks are being held with regimes known for their human rights abuses. However more MPs are becoming aware of the situation and there is hope that amendments will be made to improve the Trade Bill.
