I don't support this either. Not because it's mostly overseas but because there's only so much you can give.

A billion pounds. A fucking BILLION POUNDS. Imgagine how much good that has done.

On the evidence shown last night, not a lot! Before Comic Relief and Children in Need and Live Aid, Blue Peter used to do the same thing ever year in the 60's. Nothing has changed and nothing will. If it makes people feel better by donating a few quid and it helps to improve the lives of a few poor, unfortunate Third World children, then that's great. It won't solve the problem though and in 10, 20, 30 years time, there will be still be rich people begging on TV for poorer people to give generously.

On the evidence shown last night, not a lot! Before Comic Relief and Children in Need and Live Aid, Blue Peter used to do the same thing ever year in the 60's. Nothing has changed and nothing will. If it makes people feel better by donating a few quid and it helps to improve the lives of a few poor, unfortunate Third World children, then that's great. It won't solve the problem though and in 10, 20, 30 years time, there will be still be rich people begging on TV for poorer people to give generously.

 

Nail head hammer.

 

How much did they raise?

How many "celebrities" got involved?

 

Ballpark figures will suffice,

Quite.

 

Yet some folk refuse to donate because it's not all for British causes.

 

The mind boggles.

Ok I'll bite. I've been around since the early sixties and these types of events have been around since then in one form or another and billions upon billions of pounds have been raised and poured into the the black hole that is Africa. A continent were corruption and over population is rife in some of the countries, many of which are run by a small number of rich dictatorial types, replete with Swiss bank accounts and the latest weaponry the west has to offer.

 

So this money flows in via the channels of the many leviathan organisations such as unicef, red cross, oxfam etc with their massive infrastructures and palatial headquarters, thus keeping an industry in itself functioning. What does end up getting through is never enough stem the relentless tide of need, fuelled by too many people in lands that cannot support the numbers there. A need compounded by endless wars and famines.

 

So you will have to forgive me if what we raise every year goes to our local MS society to maintain their adapted minibus or the local hospice rather than chucking it up in the air hoping it lands somewhere its needed. 

 

Carry on boggling.

Ok I'll bite. I've been around since the early sixties and these types of events have been around since then in one form or another and billions upon billions of pounds have been raised and poured into the the black hole that is Africa. A continent were corruption and over population is rife in some of the countries, many of which are run by a small number of rich dictatorial types, replete with Swiss bank accounts and the latest weaponry the west has to offer.

 

So this money flows in via the channels of the many leviathan organisations such as unicef, red cross, oxfam etc with their massive infrastructures and palatial headquarters, thus keeping an industry in itself functioning. What does end up getting through is never enough stem the relentless tide of need, fuelled by too many people in lands that cannot support the numbers there. A need compounded by endless wars and famines.

 

So you will have to forgive me if what we raise every year goes to our local MS society to maintain their adapted minibus or the local hospice rather than chucking it up in the air hoping it lands somewhere its needed. 

 

Carry on boggling.

 

Spot on.

Why would I have to forgive you for raising money for your local MS society? What a fucking stupid thing to say.

 

It's the whole, "I'm not helping foreign kids when there are British kids to help." That's what boggles my mind. Kids are kids, they don't have a choice what kind of place they are born into.

 

I take on board your point about how much money actually gets to where it's supposed to. Let's be honest though, that's not the reason why a lot don't donate, it's because they're not on these shores therefore not our problem.

Maybe people are fucking fed up with having to feel like the UK has to look after everyone else when we can't look after our own properly.

 

Maybe the corrupt politicians, criminal statesmen, and barbaric religious savages who find cash for arms and munitions should have a go at looking after their own first instead of relying on your cash?

 

They're fucking laughing at you!

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life they say, so we buy 'em a boat, and what do they do, set sail for Gran Canaria then make their hapless customers walk the gangplank...

 

We send them more money and then what do they do? Buy a gold-plated Ak-47 then set about being the Redbeards and Captain Kirks of the 21st Century, pilfering widescreen tellies instead of booty, and gold teeth instead of gold doubloons, they substitute the cutlass for the machete and away they go...

 

We send them all our crap 'George' t-shirts and scummy curry stained sportswear and the one industry employing folk that ain't a charity shuts down because there's no more demand for multicoloured kaftans and fezzes.

 

No I say, no ,no, no!

Africa is f*cked because the zebra was/is too skittish to domesticate - fact.

 

Oh aye, if the 6500 richest people in the UK chipped in miserly £12k apiece, they would have raised as much as the baked bean bathing attention seekers.

£10 billion is sent overseas in foreign aid, we are second only to the U.S. So I'd say we are all doing our bit already.

Meanwhile, I like to be in control of where my charity money is going. It doesn't make me a cunt, it makes me think about what I spend it on.

Oh and TKMaxx making their staff ask you for a contribution to Comic Relief at the till is very wrong. Not only is it embarrassing situation for the customer & staff member when there is a refusal but I'd say it's pushy & obtrusive.

They did it on Children in Need day too, I'd only gone in because I thought I could've dropped my dongle in there the previous day, I had and they had it so, full of  cheer, I donated a £1.

There's plenty of money to go round in this country, whether it's being spent in the right areas is the question. Money to bail out the banks didn't seem to be a problem but apparently the NHS can wait.

I just think people think about stuff far too deeply.

They did it on Children in Need day too, I'd only gone in because I thought I could've dropped my dongle in there the previous day, I had and they had it so, full of  cheer, I donated a £1.

Apparently dropping your dongle on a BA flight make it return to Heathrow.

I just think people think about stuff far too deeply.

 

I don't think people think about things deeply enough. It's easy to donate a couple of quid via a text message whilst watching John Bishop jumping around wearing a fake beard, and I suppose it makes some people feel like they've done something good. If pondering the fact that the 2 pounds they've just donated doesn't end up where they think it will is "thinking too deeply", then it's all an utter waste of everybody's time. Apart from John Bishop and his agent.

There's plenty of money to go round in this country, whether it's being spent in the right areas is the question. Money to bail out the banks didn't seem to be a problem but apparently the NHS can wait.

 

 

Is the NHS underfunded?

What has our NHS got to do with Comic Relief??

 

As Gonzo says, folk think about things far too much.

Isn't it preferable folk overthink than not think?

Maybe, I think.

What has our NHS got to do with Comic Relief??

 

As Gonzo says, folk think about things far too much.

 

Try reading the thread rather than the thread title.

Apparently dropping your dongle on a BA flight make it return to Heathrow.

 

They have a shithouse in TK Maxx (or did) - it was pretty clean as well (or was), if anyone's ever caught short on that retail park...

 

Although I've not dropped a load on the hoof for ages, years in fact (aside from when away), I have to report my usual go-to shithouse in town, last trap on the left, window view, at The Spinning Mule is not what it once was.

I reckon a lot of folk lie when it comes to talking about their charity donations.

 

Total bullshit.

I reckon a lot of folk lie when it comes to talking about their charity donations.

 

Total bullshit.

i give to charity through my church

Apparently there are many people now refusing to even give to UK charities in case they help British Muslims. 

That would be brilliant. If it wasn't so tragic.