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Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

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Old Mar 16th 2013, 1:27 pm
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Originally Posted by mikelincs
I agree, that more funding to save children just causes a population explosion, the money would be far better spent on contraception and education, especially in the limiting of family sizes. Population explosion = more starving people = more aid needed.
How many other countries have these fundraising TV things, and what do they raise money for?.
UK should more focus to educate people, I totally agree .. Population explosion = more starving people = more aid needed.
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 9:23 am
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

My understanding has always been that Comic Relief does as much work in the UK as it does in Africa. Heaven know it is far from perfect, why I don't accept that we stop helping innocent children just because they were unfortunate enough to be born in a poor/uneducated country.

The sad fact is that sometimes, unless you make a right song and dance about something, there will be little in the way of donations. Many people need to be seen to be doing something and it's wishful thinking to hope that the same amout of money would be raised if there was not so much publicity.
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 9:33 am
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

I just fundamentally don't understand why it can be a bad thing or something that people are 'against'?

I've always given or done stuff for charity, yes most of the time they happen to be UK based or in fact local to the area, but they're all good causes, all grateful and all in need of the cash.

It works both ways - It's not your fault you were born in England into relative wealth....it's not the little kiddies fault he or she was born in XYZ country in abject poverty. If threads on here are to be believed, the wealthy should pay more to help the poor, ergo, we should all be willing to donate to help the less fortunate both domestic and international.
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 11:32 am
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

<iframe src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> Don't know why i cant embed things.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallott...ead_wrong.html

This was really interesting.
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 12:48 pm
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Unfortunately it is not as easy as that. The scenario of sending charitable money to Africa suits many greedy forces in Europe very well. Africa represents 60% of the arable lands in the world. If we are serious about helping those poor people in Africa, forget about giving them handouts to survive and start with lowering our level of protection of European farmers. Let those poor Africans grow food and sell them to us. They can’t do this at the moment because of the European common market rules. Spanish and French farmers, for example, produce so much food mainly due to subsides from the European union that the rest of Europe are obliged to buy (and the rest are discarded to maintain the prices). It is really an unfair situation for Africa to be in; they need to buy technology from Europe but they can’t sell any thing back to Europe because of this system of protection.
The other evil in Africa is the sheer level of corruption in the political system of those countries. Governments borrow huge sums of money from the World Bank for regeneration programs, but the majority of that money go to private pockets. The World Bank is very much aware of that but it couldn’t care less because at the end of the day the money will be paid back with full interest, not by the corrupt politicians off course, but by the poor people
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 12:55 pm
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Originally Posted by redShark
Unfortunately it is n....., but by the poor people
What about an African Union, subsidising farming to help generate the trade?
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 1:01 pm
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Originally Posted by redShark
Unfortunately it is not as easy as that. The scenario of sending charitable money to Africa suits many greedy forces in Europe very well. Africa represents 60% of the arable lands in the world. If we are serious about helping those poor people in Africa, forget about giving them handouts to survive and start with lowering our level of protection of European farmers. Let those poor Africans grow food and sell them to us. They can’t do this at the moment because of the European common market rules. Spanish and French farmers, for example, produce so much food mainly due to subsides from the European union that the rest of Europe are obliged to buy (and the rest are discarded to maintain the prices). It is really an unfair situation for Africa to be in; they need to buy technology from Europe but they can’t sell any thing back to Europe because of this system of protection.
The other evil in Africa is the sheer level of corruption in the political system of those countries. Governments borrow huge sums of money from the World Bank for regeneration programs, but the majority of that money go to private pockets. The World Bank is very much aware of that but it couldn’t care less because at the end of the day the money will be paid back with full interest, not by the corrupt politicians off course, but by the poor people
I agree with this, but how do we change the system? I doubt we ever really will, but in the interim, it's up to the individual to decide whether they are willing to put their hands in their pockets to helps others.

The money from Comic Relief is not raised from taxes, but given voluntarily and I guess many people care more about people who need some kind of assistance right now, rather than blaming a vastly corrupt political system that the individual African can do nothing about.

If anyone doesn't approve of big charities then it is also possible to donate directly to smaller organisations where your money goes straight to those in need. I know of a few orphanages that always welcome any help that can be given.
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 2:20 pm
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Originally Posted by Meow
I agree with this, but how do we change the system? I doubt we ever really will, but in the interim, it's up to the individual to decide whether they are willing to put their hands in their pockets to helps others.

The money from Comic Relief is not raised from taxes, but given voluntarily and I guess many people care more about people who need some kind of assistance right now, rather than blaming a vastly corrupt political system that the individual African can do nothing about.

If anyone doesn't approve of big charities then it is also possible to donate directly to smaller organisations where your money goes straight to those in need. I know of a few orphanages that always welcome any help that can be given.

I don’t think I can propose a quick fix solution to this problem, It is a much more complicated issue involving many players. But the road to a solution starts first with realizing what the problem is
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 2:27 pm
  #24  
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Originally Posted by redShark
I don’t think I can propose a quick fix solution to this problem, It is a much more complicated issue involving many players. But the road to a solution starts first with realizing what the problem is
Isn't he problem China?
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Old Mar 17th 2013, 3:54 pm
  #25  
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Default Re: Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

Charity is always tricky. You'll never make everyone happy. Sometimes they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

So in the end make your own decision, done!
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