Comic Relief

[ONeill]

Annual charity events are a great idea. However, I do not need 'celebrities' travelling to Kilimanjaro (I'm sure they weren't travelling economy class), paying sherpas, nail technicians, guilt tripping the gullible fawners into dipping in to their pockets. The majority of people who donate tonight won't dip again til next year. They've bought into the career-advancing gala night for 10 mins.

Exactly! They get the people who wouldnt normally donate to donate. 
Davina McCall, Alan Carr or Jonathan Ross arent exactly people who need to increase their profile.  We've no idea whether they dontated personally - actually, Jonathan Ross donated a rare comic book worth 40,000 - I'm not sure if the auction was held yet or how much was made - but it's unfair to criticise them when we just don't know how much they've given.

But that's just sugar-coating and ignoring what actually is wrong with the inequalities this show is attempting to readdress. We're so programmed to droolling over celebrities that it's now accepted that their £20m combined wealth is acceptable and normal. That's feckin perverse. You talk of £600m. Get 300 of the wealthiest in the country (esp tv presenters/celebs) and get them to donate £2m each. That'll cover a decade of Comic Relief in 10 mins.

The current economic meltdown is making the majority more aware of the obscene nature of wealth and how it was accumulated in this part of the planet.

[pintsofguinness]

    

[delboy]

Comic Relief was never watched in our house. I don't really know what it's about other than do silly things, raise money and help poor people. Which sounds alright to me.

Came in this evening with my winnings, my ma hit me for half whack to go to some shindig about nuns in Fruithill club. Then she hit me for 3 quid for the raffle for the Priest's motor. Jaysus.

Thinks must be bad down there with the credit crunch when they've had to resort to raffleing the priests car   

[ONeill]

ONeill, I love you more than Rainbows

What the feck have rainbows ever done for anyone?

[carribbear]

Davina McCall

She's the worst hypocrite of the lot
I read an article about her a while back where she campaigned against the erection (fnar!) of a mobile phone mast near her home yet she was the face of an ad campaign for one of the mobile phone networks. So its not safe for her daughter to be near a mast but okay for the rest of the plebs?

http://www.findaproperty.com/displaystory.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&storyid=3562

Jonathan Ross seems to genuinely care about comic relief, he's done quite a lot. McCall on the other hand is an opportunist who's only goal is to keep herself in the public spotlight. How people actually still like that condesending bitch is beyond me.

[delboy]

Annual charity events are a great idea. However, I do not need 'celebrities' travelling to Kilimanjaro (I'm sure they weren't travelling economy class), paying sherpas, nail technicians, guilt tripping the gullible fawners into dipping in to their pockets. The majority of people who donate tonight won't dip again til next year. They've bought into the career-advancing gala night for 10 mins.

Exactly! They get the people who wouldnt normally donate to donate. 
Davina McCall, Alan Carr or Jonathan Ross arent exactly people who need to increase their profile.  We've no idea whether they dontated personally - actually, Jonathan Ross donated a rare comic book worth 40,000 - I'm not sure if the auction was held yet or how much was made - but it's unfair to criticise them when we just don't know how much they've given.

But that's just sugar-coating and ignoring what actually is wrong with the inequalities this show is attempting to readdress. We're so programmed to droolling over celebrities that it's now accepted that their £20m combined wealth is acceptable and normal. That's feckin perverse. You talk of £600m. Get 300 of the wealthiest in the country (esp tv presenters/celebs) and get them to donate £2m each. That'll cover a decade of Comic Relief in 10 mins.

The current economic meltdown is making the majority more aware of the obscene nature of wealth and how it was accumulated in this part of the planet.

I can see where you are coming from with this, TBH in the grand scheme of things £600m is a drop in the ocean and your are right that if we spent as much time petioning our governments to do something about the situation as we do stareing at do-gooding celebs on the googly box the world would be a better place. And i suppose as you said the danger is that some people may be assuaging any guilt they feel about these inequalities by bunging a annual/biannual tenner into some celeb charity fest instead of doing some really constructive about it.
That said though the money that is raised is surely making a difference to individuals and not everybody is 'poltical' and to be honest squeezing the odd tenner out of them as is about as good as its going to get unfortunately 

[delboy]

It's a shitty enough car too. Avensis - judging by the picture, about 2000.

I think you thought I was joking......I'm not!!

I surely did, caught, out a wheeker  On the basis of the description i don't know whether to wish you good luck on winning it or not 

[ONeill]

Gael Linn - what's all that about? I give a fiver to a boy at the door every month and he gives me a sheet of paper with names on it.

[Tony Baloney]

Gael Linn - what's all that about? I give a fiver to a boy at the door every month and he gives me a sheet of paper with names on it.

Them feckers phoned up a man I know and asked him to go on an Irish language course. They gave him £2000 for this. Well, £800 was the cost of the course but £1200 to keep him fed and watered through the week long course.

I still haven't got to the bottom of that one but that is fucked up.

Jesus even Fearon could feed himself well on that dough.

[carnaross]

When I started reading this thread, I thought the support from everyone was excellent. Then I came to O'Neill's first post and thought, "how bitter and twisted" can you get. However, he does have a point, only though, if we lived in an ideal world. We don't live in such a world, we live in hard times in which people are dying. It matters not how the money is raised or by whom. What matters is that the money is raised. It is just indicative of our times that such large amounts are raised on the back of so-called self-publicists. The climbers were brilliant, try doing it and see how you get on. This group took time out of their own lives spending time training and getting acclimatised before embarking on an arduous task - how many people die going up Kilimanjaro every year? I heard yesterday although it wasn't mentioned last night, that they all met Gordon Brown who promised them £2 million as a result of their climb. The very few self-publicists on there shouldn't detract from the whole event or all who contributed in the broadcast. Remember the England team and Catherine Tate!! Good on them all and good on anyone who donates their hard-earned, whether by encouragement from celebs or by their sense of decency.

As I said on another thread, I helped raise £30,000 for a new hospital in Uganda from people and businesses in and around Leeds (and Ireland) last weekend - this money will be handed directly to the priest in the parish where the hospital is being built and will help save over 35,000 lives in the first five years. the money will go directly to the cause, just like that raised by Comic Relief.

BTW Any ideas on who donated the £6 mil?

[Donagh]

Call me cynical but would they not have been able to donate the same amount of money and saved us all as much again, if they had just shut the station down for the night?

[maggie]

£57 million is pretty impressive(with an estimated £20 million still to come in), especially in the current financial climate, i thought the total may have been down somewhat.
I do see where Mr O'Neill is coming from and he makes some valid points.
Ronan Keating-new album out this week.
Chris Moyles - new show starting next week.
But that would be the cynic in me mentioning that.....................

[rrhf]

I just donated £5 for you O Neill, so dont worry about it any more. 

[Maguire01]

Call me cynical but would they not have been able to donate the same amount of money and saved us all as much again, if they had just shut the station down for the night?

It costs £160 million to run BBC1 for the night?!

[Donagh]

Call me cynical but would they not have been able to donate the same amount of money and saved us all as much again, if they had just shut the station down for the night?

It costs £160 million to run BBC1 for the night?!

Opps, thought I heard on the wireless this morning they raised £15 million. I stand corrected. Still, it's a pile of shite...