Friday 15 March 2013

Why You Should Not Give Money To Red Nose Day










Please don’t give money to Red Nose Day this year, the whole thing is a disgusting spectacle of narcissistic self-promotion for the entertainment industry and big business that raises an absolutely pitiful amount of money while giving the participants the reams publicity and PR spin. To give an idea of the figures involved Tax dodging/Tax Avoidance costs UK around  £70 BILLION per year, Comic Relief/Red Nose Day has not even raised £1bn in TOTAL in over 25 years. Or to put it another way a single failed and bailed-out bank (RBS) last year paid out more than £600m in bonuses to staff just last year. That is almost as much as Comic Relief has raised in it’s quarter of a century long history.

The whole thing is a disgusting farce used by big business’s such as BT and Sainsbury’s to exploit those in need on order to present a false picture of corporate responsibility. The money these companies “give” doesn’t go to good causes but paying for things such as Chief Executive Kevin Cahill’s wages (over £250,000 every 2 years - nice work if you can get it!) and subsidising free adventure holiday outings for TV celebrities, such as this years white water rafting expedition for a bunch of millionaire, once funny, comedians. David Cameron’s involvement this year just makes this big con even more explicit. His government have recently  admitted that their introduction of the so-called *benefits cap* will plunge 100,000 more children from working families into poverty. Irony is not dead.

On the subject of children the coercion of schools into the Comic Relief hype machine is bad enough in that it indoctrinates relatively wealthy children into the belief that the poor and disabled are to be viewed as powerless victims, second class citizens, requiring hand outs - not as human being with rights, who, as such, have every right to demand social and economic justice. But the involvement of schools is even worse for children of poorer parents who may be struggling just to feed themselves, their children, and keep their homes warm. Think how it must to feel to then be hounded by millionaire Pop-Stars, TV personalities and Politicians into giving a slice of what little they have to avoid the shame and stigma that is the inevitable result of the social pressure to *join in* created by this mass media onslaught of hype.

For the vast amount of free air time, publicity, celebrity endorsement, time, energy and goodwill, not only is the pitiful amount raised embarrassing but the whole event propagates the idea that real lasting change is impossible. Real change IS possible but it won’t come through charity but from a re-adjustment of the political landscape. Now imagine if the vast amount of time and energy put into comic relief was put into campaigning for real political change because big, vital and necessary changes are not only possible but easily achievable if the political will is there. For staters we need the introduction of A) a mandatory living wage B) a redistributive tax on the obscene bonuses the bankers who brought this country to edge of bankruptcy are still paying themselves, and C) an immediate end to those tax loop holes that cost us £70 BILLION PER YEAR. Just these three steps would bring about real lasting change by redistributing wealth from the parasitical classes who steal it, to the working people who not only create this wealth but deserve their fair share of it. Also we wouldn’t have to watch Lenny Henry in a bath of baked beans (or whatever) every two years.


16 comments:

  1. You could always turn the TV over....

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    1. You could think of a better cliché ...

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    2. you could stick to writing about Avril Lavigne...

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  2. Fair play-you have described most of what I feel. One exception is that 'can' provide a context for a discussion with children about the forces behind inequality and the ridiculous notion of bloated egoists promoting notions of selflessness by showing off... It had its place but its time is up.

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  3. Please back up your claims with facts. I am interested to hear what you have to say but it needs to be believable.

    Cheers

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    1. anything specific? - I did a fair bit of research on this and might be able to provide you with a link

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    2. Tax avoidance costs UK economy £70 billion a year: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/tax-avoidance-justice-network

      Comic Relief has raesed less than £1billion TOTAL in 25 years: http://www.comicrelief.com/about-us

      £600m RBS bonus pot for 2012: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/215m-for-investment-bankers-in-600m-rbs-bonus-pot-despite-52bn-losses-8514102.html

      Comic Relief apear to be very secretive about how much Chief Executive Kevin Cahill is paid. Best Info I could get: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Relief

      100,000 more children to be plunged into poverty by the Conservative’s benefit cap: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/100000-more-children-to-be-plunged-into-poverty-8478602.html

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    3. Here’s a better link for Comic Relief's Chief Executive Kevin Cahill pay packet (£130,823 plus pension contributions for the year 2011/2012): http://cdn2.comicrelief.com/cdn/farfuture/8ZPUKydF-FtXfCFWUuDyDLaDZqbZQwJeibBBA_LuqAE/deploymtime:1363276732/sites/comicrelief.com/files/doc/accounts/Annual_Report.pdf

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  4. The most uninformed piece of writing I've ever seen. Sheer nonsense.

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  5. Could be fact, could be rubbish. If you are going to say back it up with facts at least have some facts yourself to justify your counter-argument. I'd be pleased to read them.

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  6. And you're Anonymous saying that

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  7. I just don't see how you get from "Comic Relief raises much less money than could be saved from preventing tax avoidance" to "don't give money to Comic Relief." The two are not incompatible. I suppose it's possible that something like Comic Relief could divert or reduce attention or demands for tax avoidance progress, but there's no evidence that's actually how it works.

    You might have fun "imagining" what it would be like if all the effort put into Comic Relief was put into campaigning for 'social justice', whatever that means. But it wouldn't work like that, would it? What would most likely happen if Comic Relief went away is that, well, Comic Relief would have gone away. Thousands of worthwhile projects here and in Africa would lose funding, people would literally die as a result, and there's no reason whatsoever to believe that any of the energy actually would be diverted to campaigning on tax loopholes.

    Basically just because something's not perfect doesn't make it shit.

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  8. Less than than 0.04% of money given to charity in UK each year is given through Comic Relief. The amount of money raised is comparatively trivial compared to the 11bn donated in the UK every year. if it ceased to exist there is no reason to believe this tiny 0.04% short fall would not be made up elsewhere. Part of the problem is that most our eyes tend glaze over at any figure over a million and we think oooh *big money*, which is why I have tried to contextualise the figures.

    I lot of good people give up time energy and money to support Comic Relief. These people have limited resources of time, energy and money. I believe if people were made aware what a waste of resources Comic Relief really is they would not stop giving but would have the information enabling them to make more informed choice's therefore engaging in more productive ways of giving, campaigning, raising awareness and generally doing good.

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