[alferret]

Originally Posted by TheNorm

Britain is one of the richest countries in the world, with one of the slowest growing populations. As Homealone said, we have a moral obligation to help our neighbours on this planet, especially those from poor, overcrowded countries.

According to the Optimum Population Trust Projected population by 2051 wil be 77.23 million, an increase of 16 million people from 2007\08. We have grown by more than 20% in population since 1950.
How long will it be before this country becomes one of your poor overcrowded countries? We need to look after the space we have because the UK can only sustain a certain population.

The UK has a landmass of 241,590 sq km which equates to 256 people per sq km. GDP £1.1 trillion

Lets take Nigeria (as in the OP first post) covers an area of 911,000 sq km with a population of 135,000,000 this is 148 people per sq km, not so crowded now compared to the UK. GDP £100 billion

Yes the countries we talk about may be poor, but not so crowded as our own.

In comaprison the US has an area of 9,161,923 sq km and a population of 301,139,947 which is 32 people per sq km and the worlds largest economy. GDP £6.5 trillion

Where as India has a population of 1,129,866,154 and 2,973,190 sq km which is a very crowded 380 per sq km. GDP £2.1 trillion

I dont dispute that some countries are poor in relation to the UK.

Originally Posted by TheNorm

After all, we have caused (and continue to cause) many of the problems that people in these countries face.

I dont think we have caused "all" the problems faced by these countries, and we certainly dont continue to do so, because if we did we as a nation would be ostracized by the rest of the world.

Originally Posted by TheNorm

If you want to put it into perspective, calculate the cost of keeping this family in Britain as a proportion of the cost of keeping Northern Rock afloat. Or the cost of Gordon Brown's trip to China (where he had dinner with Richard Branson ).

This has nothing to do with Northern Rock or Brown's dinner date with Branson in China. I dont think thats it's me that needs to keep things in "perspective".