Comic Relief

Big_Rick78 said:
I'd like to know what they do with the money, since Comic Relief started they must have made near a Billion pound? Plus all the other countless charities that ask for £2 a month. Whats happening with the money? Surely that much would make a difference, yet it doesnt seem to have changed much in 20 odd years.
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What are you expecting to see? Golf plated roads in Africa? African teenagers driving Fiat 500s and walking round with Ipads? Have you tried to find out what difference it has made, did you see the features last night on projects it has funded? It's such a huge issue that the money donated by charity will make a small difference. But making a little difference in a country where 100s of thousands are dying of preventable conditions such as malnutrition and malaria is always better than doing nothing.

It's not the fault of the children and families that they were born where they were. As was mentioned last night, all of us on this board got lucky and a lot of people in other places did not. Some people worry about if a shirt is tucked in and the length of socks worn with shorts when playing golf, others worry about if they will have enough food to eat.
 
Sweep said:
I do suspect that much of Comic Relief is as much about the advancement of a few careers as it is about charity
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Lazy old argument. Have you thought that perhaps, just perhaps, that they do it to give something back and it is an opportunity for them to make a difference through doing what they do best?

Does Richard Curtis need more publicity and money and has he worked tirelessly over the last 25 years to put it all together just so he can make Love Actually 2? Are One Direction struggling for public recognition, is Michael Mcintyre struggling to fill arenas, is Russell Brand desperate to be more famous, does Claudia Winkleman need to raise her TV profile and is she struggling for TV gigs, does Peter Kay needs to sell out more enormodomes, does John Bishop need more exposure on TV, is James Corden struggling in his theatre career, is Ricky Gervais a comedy nobody needing recognition, is Rowan Atkinson destitute and penniless? Should we ban all famous people from these types of public TV charity raising programs as they are all in it to further their careers?
 
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Lenny Henry said that, through Comic Relief, something like 5,000,000 Africans had been given mobile phones. They then showed a video of a small child dying of malaria. Apparently it only cost £5 to vaccinate.
Why are comic relief kitting people out with mobiles - that they don't need - when their fellow country folk are dying? Misappropriation of funds?

Also, he stated that since 1988 Comic Relief had raised something like £10,000,000,000. That's a HUGE sum of money. Certainly enough to give the people of Africa the basic vaccinations required.

Whilst watching last night I couldn't help but think that, once again, it's the average man in the UK that's made to feel guilty. Bill Gates, Abramovich, Lakshmi Mittel, Ecclestone - just these four alone are worth in excess of £100,000,000,000. I could add Africa's second son Geldof and perhaps the other serial bleaterer Bono who must be worth a fair few quid. I don't doubt for one minute that they, if they used their OWN vast (and mostly not required) wealth that they could solve pretty much all of the health issues in Africa! I mean, does anyone living in the US or the UK NEED a billion pounds???

Watching the horrible images of children dying last night broke my heart as I'm a Dad but my £5 isn't the answer. The leaders of this world need to be harassing the billionaires and getting them to donate 75% of their wealth to help those less fortunate. They won't though, it's easier to make me feel guilty.
 
AuburnWarrior said:
Also, he stated that since 1988 Comic Relief had raised something like £10,000,000,000. That's a HUGE sum of money. Certainly enough to give the people of Africa the basic vaccinations required.
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Before last night it has raised £610 Million. Get your facts right. And I don't think they were trying to make you feel guilty, but just show some compassion. But if you think the answer is to strip the wealth of 4 or 5 individuals so you can not feel guilty then OK, good policy with a great practical chance of it succeeding and making a difference.
 
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AuburnWarrior said:
Lenny Henry said that, through Comic Relief, something like 5,000,000 Africans had been given mobile phones. They then showed a video of a small child dying of malaria. Apparently it only cost £5 to vaccinate.
Why are comic relief kitting people out with mobiles - that they don't need - when their fellow country folk are dying? Misappropriation of funds?.
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There is NO effective vaccination to malaria. These poor folk need food, education and empowerment, mobile phones are probably of more longterm benefit than simply filling starving bellies.
 
Although it's a great cause to give to I do have a couple of problems with it.
Firstly I would like to see more money staying in the UK as there are so many charities that are really struggling and could do so much with money from Comic relief.
The second thing is it used to be funny! Now we are bombarded with images from Africa of dying kids. We all know that's what it's for and will give anyway. It would be nice to see more comedy that is actually funny!
 
Yerman said:
There is NO effective vaccination to malaria. These poor folk need food, education and empowerment, mobile phones are probably of more longterm benefit than simply filling starving bellies.
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What does that mean 'Empowerment' ? My heart bleeds when I see these poor children suffering, how could anyone not be affected by these images.

What I cant resolve though is what would be the best way to reduce this suffering. If you have children that are starving and impoverished why would you want to bring more into the world, I just cant believe it's lack of education, how educated do you need to be to realise that the new baby will also starve.

Somehow scarce resources need to be channelled into education and contraception. I think we will face a similar problem here in the UK when state borrowing really has to stop (believe me it will have to) and people have no state crutch to support their lifestyles.

Ultimately the planet can only support a finite number of our species in the manner they have been accustomed and no matter how we try to square the circle; continued population increases will create situations that no amount of red noses can fix.
 
SocketRocket said:
What I cant resolve though is what would be the best way to reduce this suffering. If you have children that are starving and impoverished why would you want to bring more into the world, I just cant believe it's lack of education, how educated do you need to be to realise that the new baby will also starve.
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Tying this up with another thread, the Catholic churches' attitudes to contraception is a major factor here. I suspect no one thinks that annual charity events are the best way to solve the problem in the long term. And as many have said there are many deep seated structural economic, cultural and political factors that need addressing to make a long term difference. But I see it as you have to do what you can do.

And also another comment mentioned the money not staying in the UK. I think that is the focus for Children in Need, and the focus on Comic relief has always been different.
 
Andy808 said:
Now we are bombarded with images from Africa of dying kids. We all know that's what it's for and will give anyway. It would be nice to see more comedy that is actually funny!
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They found out very quickly that once you show the suffering in its raw form and a celeb crying then the amount of donations spikes dramatically. So it is used to persuade the waiverers, the people who probably would not have donated anyway.

As for it being funny then I enjoyed most of the comedy sketches. Some of it was not for me (Mrs Browns Boys, Call the Midwife) but personally I thought some bits were great (David Walliams VD sketch, Peter Kaye, David Brent) and as I have said before it has to be broad to appeal to the widest possible audience. But of course comedy is subjective so they are never going to please everyone.
 
Hacker Khan said:
Speaking as a parent and a supporter of a childs right to have a childhood, can I call you a ****?
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You can call me what you want. I was merely suggesting that if they "changed the record" they might create more interest. 20 + years of the same thing with the same celebs advancing their careers, all for the same charity is getting stale. You don't have a monopoly on supporting a childs right to a childhood. You have no knowledge of what I give to charity.
 
Hacker Khan said:
Lazy old argument. Have you thought that perhaps, just perhaps, that they do it to give something back and it is an opportunity for them to make a difference through doing what they do best?

Does Richard Curtis need more publicity and money and has he worked tirelessly over the last 25 years to put it all together just so he can make Love Actually 2? Are One Direction struggling for public recognition, is Michael Mcintyre struggling to fill arenas, is Russell Brand desperate to be more famous, does Claudia Winkleman need to raise her TV profile and is she struggling for TV gigs, does Peter Kay needs to sell out more enormodomes, does John Bishop need more exposure on TV, is James Corden struggling in his theatre career, is Ricky Gervais a comedy nobody needing recognition, is Rowan Atkinson destitute and penniless? Should we ban all famous people from these types of public TV charity raising programs as they are all in it to further their careers?
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I don't know why, but I am getting the impression you didn't like my post.:) Nobody on TV is desperate for cash or publicity. But it doesn't do them any harm, does it? As said on a previous post, why is Lenny Henry always dragged out for these things? If you are so keen on Comic Relief, I think there is a free pair of shoes somewhere that could be sold for a good cause.
 
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