Voices: Musk is wrong about foreign aid – it’s how countries show their character to the world

British foreign secretary David Lammy meets patients in a malnutrition centre in Adre, Chad near the border with South Sudan where thousands of refugees have been crossing. Mr Lammy visited on January 24 before the government announced cuts to the UK foreign aid budget - (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Foreign aid is being decimated. In a flurry of tweets on the US agency responsible for foreign aid, USAID, Elon Musk posted: “It is time for it to die.” In the United Kingdom, aid cuts were announced as part of a well-crafted speech in parliament by the prime minister. Whether in a suit or via a flurry of tweets, the result is the same.

Other countries, such as Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have cut aid as well in recent weeks and months. It has been a terrible few weeks for international aid.