RECEIPTS, PLEASE

Yes, I know it`s the season of goodwill and all that but there are times when my natural inclination towards generosity turns a bit Scrooge-like and the things that set me off are those when my money - such as it is - is seemingly `disbursed` by those in power. A couple of examples might explain.

First, our old friend the European Union, which swallows up £12,366 of UK taxpayers` cash each and every minute, 24/7 and this net contribution continues without the EU accounts being signed off by auditors for years. Now, at Copenhagen this week, the EU contribution to help Third World countries, particularly in Africa, cope with `climate change` has apparently been agreed at £2.1billion for each of three years as its share of the proposed £7billion a year global fund.

You`ll forgive me I hope if, tempting though it may be, I resist straying into the `debate` about the legitimacy of global warming et al, but I was struck by the largesse displayed by Gordon Brown regarding the UK`s contribution to the EU share of the global fund. A few days ago, Britain`s pledge stood at £800million over three years; by Thursday morning, it was revised to £1.2billion and by the afternoon, Gordon had upped it to £1.5billion, the £500million for each year making Britain`s contribution the largest of all the EU countries.

Now, of course there may well be the need for this kind of help to be doled out by the so-called developed countries and if the need is proven and the money is put to good use, then fair enough. But I have worries when Gordon Brown tells us taxpayers back home that we `should all be proud` that Britain is the biggest contributor to the new global warming fund. I worry because I`m not sure that global warming is `the moral issue of our times.` I worry because I detect once more an obsessive desire on Brown`s part to be seen as being one of the leading figures of the EU but who seems to be buying favour with our money; in any case, what on earth are we doing even thinking of buying the favour of the likes of the poseur Sarkosy and the insufferable Merkel.

But most of all I worry because of the danger yet again that shedloads of EU taxpayers` cash might be on its way to poorer countries, `partricularly in Africa,` with every prospect that a good chunk of it might end up in the numbered Swiss bank accounts of despotic African dictators. For I see little mention of how -or even whether- there will be processes in place to ensure that the contributions we make will represent `value for money,` especially as the EU itself is demonstrably not the most efficient when it comes to matters financial.

I don`t mind paying my money and taking my chance but I do mind when someone else takes my money and plays roulette with it without really understanding the rules of the game or, indeed, whether there are any rules. In short, I think we should be insisting on receipts for services rendered.

BREAKING NEWS : Just after I posted the above rant, a report came through that the UK is withholding any further payments to Kenya following investigations into the suspected fraud of £615,000 which has gone missing and which was intended to pay for classrooms, books and other necessities to bring free primary school education to the country`s poorest regions. We need more of that kind of intervention.