There's been a lot in the UK media recently about the controversy surrounding the UK's foreign aid policies, in the light of excessive cuts to spending in this country. It often seems the case that foreign aid is an area that can be grossly exaggerated by the media, as it's easy to create a shocking headline by adding figures such as £8.7bn without explaining this as a percentage of overall UK spending.
(There are plenty more headlines like this on the Daily Mail as you may expect - from 'why is our money going to Africa?' stories, to 'why is our money going to the Pope or TUC instead of Africa?!'...)
Today I came across a video from the ONE campaign (with thanks to Village Aid for the link) highlighting the public's views on foreign aid spending. Now, I'm not sure of the legitimacy of these views from 'people on the street', and obviously this is only a handful of people (the social researcher in me is critical), but it does make an interesting point that the general public can often be unaware of the difference foreign aid can make, and that many people are sceptical that our money is being spent effectively.