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Anyone watching - who is the women in the silver skirt?
She seems to be presenting, but she's not listed and we haven't a clue who she is?
Watched a bit with the kids as they've been doing it at school.
Sat with my 3yo and 6yo watching that piece about with the 13 month old baby dying of malaria was tough!
But still an easier watch than most of the "comedy".
watching it myself. me and the wife have just looked at each other after another clip of orphans in africa, and both mentioned how cold or hardened we had become over such stuff.
it might sound harsh, but why do people fall for this year after year.
it is up to 48 million now. ffs give it to the nhs and home charities.
why we pour money into something that cant be mended is something i dont understand.
sorry it i seem a bit harsh.
Reeves and Mortimer with Susana Reid was painful, I had to go out the room.
This hot tub shit is annoying me as well.
The Love Actually revisit was good though.
I think the lady in the skirt might be a presenter from celebrity get me out of here on ITV. I think it's improved as a show,I used to find it unwatchable. Could do with knocking some of the dated comedy on its head though, I've seen that Cathrine Tate gag far too many times. I donated a tenner, wish these celebs would stump up some proper cash rather than pulling on my heart strings every year.
Ton - Comic Relief does support projects in the UK, partly why I support it.
Would be nice for a bit more comedy mind 🙄
I'd certainly rather see them splurge all the money on a couple of projects and make a real difference then the current status quo
Ton - Comic Relief does support projects in the UK, partly why I support it.
sorry, i should have said, i wish the money should only go to our charities.
things like help the aged, the dementia charities, the young carers.
these are the things that pull on my heart strings.
Luisa Omelian. A comic.
Ton, I disrespectfully disagree with your stance.
sc-xc. not a problem mate.
I do love you Ton.
Anyway, my 2p no they can't change the world, and and quite often the people they ask to ask us for money are quite wealthy (seems a big moan on twitter) but I bought the kids a bunch of red nose related stuff and donated £10 for my mates Kid who's doing so massive walk over hill and dale most of tommorow for them.
It makes a bit of a a difference, and if it makes a bit of a difference to someone - overseas or not - I'm happy
/ naive?
[i]
Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”[/i]
Really poor - Love Actually revisit was half-decent, just not getting anything else, even from the people I know.
Hale & Pace as D'management:
H: this year we got asked to do Comic Relief.
P: so I killed Jimmy Tarbuck
H: and that's a relief.
Whats going on? Are we usually allowed such comments as Ton's on here without a complete flaming?
What's going on with the audio?
Its shocking.
Turned it off two hours ago and played playstation.
Ton, I disrespectfully disagree with your stance.
absolutely couldnt care less what country people who receive my charity money live in.
they are all people, with exactly the same emotions and feelings as anyone else
Id just hope those most in need receive it
Ton, out of interest, do you consider yourself a bit racist?
Tell me I'm over reacting if you like, but what you said up there blows the 17+ pages dithering over what to call a Chinese takeaway out of the water. IMO of course.
Regardless of the cause, which I fully endorse and have donated, the entertainment side of it is the direst shit I have endured for a long time. Yes, I know there's a remote control to hand, but Mrs M thinks it's good and she's away all next week so I'm indulging her (go me 😉 )
Edit: though now graham norton has just wheeled out another load of shit guests I can't stand, this may be my opportunity to replace those brake pads I've been trying to find time for....
2nd edit: right that's it, just as I thought it reached the nadir, I glanced over and she's chuckling away. Then it was announced Russell Brand was on next. I swear her pupils dilated, just a bit. I'm off to the garage 👿
Is it still the case that charities maximise money by investing donations into various opaque funds, some of which are weapons manufacturers?
I seem to recall something like that a few years ago.
Kinda self defeating if your donation to a war torn country is arming the people who make it war torn.
I like the idea of it, but there is no comedy 🙁 could they not just broadcast episodes of Father Ted and run a banner along the bottom of the screen asking for donations.
Managed about 5 mins of it and switched it off, cringeworthy rubbish.
I would be very surprised if any charities actively do that now but that's why you should choose the charities you give to carefully and thoughtfully if you care about those things rather than just respond ad hoc to a big campaignIs it still the case that charities maximise money by investing donations into various opaque funds, some of which are weapons manufacturers?
However, big campaigns are fantastically effective, so long may they continue, however crap they are. As someone working for a charity we can use it all no matter how big or small
I didn't read the comments by ton as racist. I read them as he wished we give home based charities all the money rather than projects abroad.
Thankfully people have a lot of choice in where they give to charity, you have a lot of control of where your donation goes to.
it might sound harsh, but why do people fall for this year after year.
it is up to 48 million now. ffs give it to the nhs and home charities.why we pour money into something that cant be mended is something i dont understand.
sorry it i seem a bit harsh.
That is really quite harsh, what you are saying is it is probably best if people just die quietly.
I don't think there is much that can be done to change the format of the show. We've had the same comedy celebrity schedule and sketches and comedians for decades, it's become both a parody and institution. Familiarity clearly works because raising £70m+ in one night can not be sniffed at, so it just works. I don't think turning it off or over hurts the programme, watching the programme for one whole evening is asking too much, but it's well known that the format changes throughout the evening to capture different audiences, kids early on, drunk adults later and grandma in between.
I am jaded now, not the format because I don't expect anything else, but the same causes and the same pleads for cash, the same institutions the money goes too. I've been supporting it since it's inception, I've seen the world around me change for both good and bad, but the continents the cash raised goes to don't seem to have moved on since the 80's, before even. So,what happens to the money? It's a question I always ask myself.
But I still give, my donation has increased with the passing of time relative to my mood without the influence of the show. But the show does one thing for me, reminds me I'm one very lucky human living in a very safe comfortable place with all he luxuries surrounding me, and some I just throw in the bin.
I watch the first hour, the first 5 or so clips of the desperate and disparate humanity suffering centre me again from my disaffection.
I have no answer or comment on where the money goes, the professional charities decide based on their own criteria, but a lot of the money raised does end up in the U.K.
I did think to myself, Jonathan Ross looks remarkably like Des O'Conner... Which makes me realise just how long I've been supporting the cause because I remember him BITD in a T-Shirt being all shouty and funny.
+1 SC-XC
£48M is a strange number. Yes, it's a **** of a lot but at the same time it's a tiny amount - less than a pound per person in the country. There's a lot of people that don't donate anything for charity at home or abroad. Which is fine, it's a choice (I'd like them to be different but it's their right not to be) - and I'm not getting into whether people can afford to be.
If we want to fund the NHS or 'home' concerns instead it should be through taxation. You can't run the NHS on donations.
I think the other thing here is that such small amounts make a huge difference...... I was out last night so didn't see much but they're always banging on about how a mosquito net that saves lives potentially every night is like £3, or oral nutrition sachets for malnourished babies are less than a quid each. And so it's like that starfish analogy.... just because we can't so it, doesn't mean we should do nothing.
The arms investment thing. A mate is a charity boss, and looks after investment strategy (with others). They don't sit their money in the bank, they invest it to get more to do more, just like your pension fund manager, and while they always try to invest ethically, some of these funds are quite opaque. Also charities are often obliged by law / constitution to invest for best returns. So while investing in a wind knitting farm in the Outer Hebrides might be the favoured ethical investment, the payback is crap 😉
Better to have two 'grubby' pounds to change lives with than one clean one? YMMV, so might the kid that got the second sachet of oral nutrition.
The comedy was largely about as funny as pushing a pencil up my urethra, the films about the needy were moving as always.
As this was the one that was about "bringing the funny back" they failed really badly
ton - Member
watching it myself. me and the wife have just looked at each other after another clip of orphans in africa, and both mentioned how cold or hardened we had become over such stuff.
it might sound harsh, but why do people fall for this year after year.
it is up to 48 million now. ffs give it to the nhs and home charities.why we pour money into something that cant be mended is something i dont understand.
sorry it i seem a bit harsh.
POSTED 8 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
We live in one of the richest countries in the world. We should be able to do both.
Large charities by and large invest their money and spend the proceeds on good work. Some people get upset that their donation isn't immediately spent on mosquito nets or vaccines, but doing it the way they do ensures long term work which is better than short term to change lives.
In the past it's been discovered that some money was invested with some hedge fund or other that in turn invested some money (in terms of shares) with a company who had a weapons division. This isn't unusual if you've got a pension pot or a savings account it's likely some of your money found its way to BAE Systems for example at some point.
Some of the gutter press got hold of it and even though their reporters are quite bright you would assume they twisted it into something akin to Lenny Henry buying Ex-Soviet AKs out of a factory in Estern Europe and selling them to the Talliban to be used against "our boys".
It was created to offer people who don't want to give money to anyone else the justification to think it's all bullshit anyway.
It's another example of the press twisting somthing to sell a few more papers in exchange for making Britain even more bitter than it already is.
Ton,of course is just so far wrong it's not even with engaging my with.
Does anyone think they would have shown a white or English kids dying on TV like that?
Ton, out of interest, do you consider yourself a bit racist?
no.
I didn't read the comments by ton as racist. I read them as he wished we give home based charities all the money rather than projects abroad.
which I stand by.
That is really quite harsh, what you are saying is it is probably best if people just die quietly.
no, I am saying that we have problems here in the uk that need sorting.
We live in one of the richest countries in the world. We should be able to do both.
we are obviously failing somewhere then.
Ton,of course is just so far wrong it's not even with engaging my with.
no worries.
Does anyone think they would have shown a white or English kids dying on TV like that?
From what I saw they showed white English kids in some fairly dire circumstances. 🙁
I'd suggest that they didn't show white English babies dying of malaria at 13 months old because that doesn't happen?
no, I am saying that we have problems here in the uk that need sorting.We live in one of the richest countries in the world. We should be able to do both.
we are obviously failing somewhere then.
The nhs should be funded in full is taxation, education the same. The uk as one of the richest nations can afford to be charitable. Nobody is forcing you to give money to help people, as such have you can't tell them where to spend it.
The direct result of cutting aid to some of these areas is that people will die.
another clip of orphans in africa
Another one? How tiresome, it's true that it's easier to feel empathy for situations you can relate to.
You just have to force yourself to make the intellectual leap to understand those mothers who don't look like 'us' and speak differently feel EXACTLY the same love anguish and heartbreak as 'we' do.
Personally I don't care which country someone is in, suffering is suffering, the whole notion of looking after our own is baffling.
People have been dying in some 3rd world craphole since as far back as I remember. Does this fundraising make any difference, I dont know.
I would rather the money stayed in this country. I feel I already contribute via compulsory taxation for foreign aid anyway.
, I dont know.
I would rather the money stayed in this country. I feel I already contribute via compulsory taxation for foreign aid anyway.
How much did you give to comic relief? It's not compulsory to donate. You can pick any number of charities to donate to.
"From what I saw they showed white English kids in some fairly dire circumstances."
Did it actually broadcast a film of them dying? I think showing a kid breathing his last on telly was quite extreme and wonder if somehow it was OK as it was African life
People are people.
I didn't watch, but I did donate. Don't care who it goes to as long as they are in genuine need somewhere.
We (ask of us, everywhere) really need to start letting go of all of these us and them attitudes - it's holding us all back.
We (ask of us, everywhere) really need to start letting go of all of these us and them attitudes - it's holding us all back
Well said.
Global citzens
Did it actually broadcast a film of them dying?
Didn't watch that much of it so I don't know. I do know they have shown white English kids dying of cancer before.
I think showing a kid breathing his last on telly was quite extreme and wonder if somehow it was OK as it was African life
It was very extreme. I suspect it has to be to get people's attention these days, especially when some would rather see the money spent closer to home.
But it did come as a bit of a shock as my 6 year old had said [i]"Oh we've been learning about malaria. Can I watch this clip before bed?"[/i] She got more of an education than I quite expected before the watershed. Luckily her younger sister didn't really take it in: "Don't worry, the doctors will make him better" 😐
we are obviously failing somewhere then.
Yep. But stand with a manifesto of increasing tax to the levels required to care for all and say hello to political oblivion.
Didn't watch that much of it so I don't know. I do know they have shown white English kids dying of cancer before.
Yeah, but showing the actual moment of death felt very voyeuristic.
It does beg the question, are these English kids worth our charity?
I think charity funding for 3rd world countries should prioritise contraception and education.
I think charity funding for 3rd world countries should prioritise contraception and education.
How can you educate children who have spend their day collecting clean water?
I would start with clean water, food and mosquito nets.
no, I meant education around contraception for the horny adults that if they didn't have children in the first place they wouldn't have to find the non existant resources to feed, cloth and house them.
Great assessment on the impact of climate and geo political influences jekkyl
find the non existant resources to feed, cloth and house them.
There is plenty of resource, more than enough, it's just in the wrong place.
no, I meant education around contraception for the horny adult
So you seem to think it's their fault?
yeah, that did read a bit daily mail on reading that back but too many people for too little resource is the problem at the heart of the issue I feel. The issue being starvation and famine, not the war and genocide which comic relief also covers.
The issue being starvation and famine
Which is caused by the war and genocide.
Which is caused by the war and genocide.
Or the climate, or other things. I thought it was the horny adults
I think charity funding for 3rd world countries should prioritise contraception and education.
What I'm seeing is something akin to the UK as little as 100 years ago.
Children born in large numbers, due to them becoming the providers for their parents.
From that time to the present day we have had:
Increasing Industrialization
Better democratic representation, more people were given the vote
Better infrastructure, such as housing
Education
Pensions
Health provision
The last three in particular negating the need to "breed" in large numbers, as effectively the Children were the parents pension, replacements for the high child mortality rate, and an education would equal better pay.
I get a little tired of those in the West using its values as a beating stick on countries with very little of the above.
The good thing about Being Charitable is that you can choose exactly who you want to help.
From huge "global charities" to the homeless guy selling Big Issue outside your local shops. From Save the Rhinos in Africa to helping out at your local animal shelter.
Time or money, or both or neither. The choice is yours. . . .
An old theatre saying:
If the actors are enjoying themselves, the audience probably isn't.
I think a lot of the performers were really enjoying themselves. No I didn't watch.
Not related to charity but the 'nothing's changed in 20 years'
If you haven't seen this (or his other related talks) some very interesting insights.
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty
i donated, sitting here thinking of course i won't notice £20 -
thought the segment and clip from Billy Connelly was quite emotional
I saw half an hour or so, graham norton really embarrassed a young woman ,trying to get a "sex on an aeroplane "anecdote out of her.
Her father was in the audience!
&Billy Connolly ,sadly ,didn't look in good fettle.
Just another company in the aid industry begging for money whilst being opaque about how much they spend on running themselves
Hans Roslings stuff was really good. His predictions and stuff on declining third world birth rates might change a few opinions on here.
jekkyl - Memberno, I meant education around contraception for the horny adults that if they didn't have children in the first place they wouldn't have to find the non existant resources to feed, cloth and house them.
Birth rates are almost directly connected to wealth and mortality rates- if your kids are going to grow up in squalor, having one more or less makes little difference but having 6 means that you're more likely to have one reach adulthood. Of course it's *ed! It's terrible. But having less kids doesn't make it less *ed.
Ed Sheeran's a good egg. So is Andrew Lincoln. That joke's better than anything in Russell Brand's bit.
Hans Roslings stuff was really good. His predictions and stuff on declining third world birth rates might change a few opinions on here.
That was my takeaway; things are changing, now's not the time for the 'first' world to give up supporting the third world but that time (of self sufficiency) might not be as far away as it seems at times.
[quote=BigJohn ]An old theatre saying:
If the actors are enjoying themselves, the audience probably isn't.
I think a lot of the performers were really enjoying themselves. No I didn't watch.
I suspect the trouble is that they expect to get paid if they're not enjoying themselves!