Captain Tom

[qigong chimp]

What lesson should we take from the news that his rellies have been looking to cash in big?
Is every staged display of gushing jingalgia a front for grasping voids flogging their kin?

 

[Hitchington]

The hot beverage from my Captain Tom tea pot and cup and saucer set suddenly tastes very acrid.

 

[fozy tornip]

I hear you. I'm amending my tattoo of Captain Tom to add his daughter drooling over a heap of glimmering gelt.

 

[Beebo]

The main reason he became ‘famous’ was because his family were continually pushing the narrative and the media needed a good news story to report. His daughter and son-in-law are in the business of marketing and promotion, so in Covid they turned their talents to Tom’s charity work.
Im sure they were just as surprised as everyone else when the cash came rolling and imagine they feel a lot of the £33 million was due to their hard work so feel they are owed a piece of the pie.
It does leave you with the uncomfortable feeling that poor old Tom was somewhat manipulated by his family and the media.
After all there were thousands of other people doing similar challenges for charity who didn’t get the same traction but their causes were no less worthy.

 

[Milkfloat]

This case and other previous examples suggest to me that there needs to be some independent trustees of the charity whose responsibilities very much include not letting anybody spaff large amounts of cash up the wall and to ensure fair salaries/wages are in place based on market norms.

 

[Ian H]

Hmm. I had to look for this. Found a website for the 'foundation'. There's a statement on there saying something along the lines of 'we're not crooks'. So that's all right then.

I couldn't see any mention of the word 'charity'.

 

[AuroraSaab]

Eric Hoffer said 'Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket'. I've often thought how true this is of so many charities and movements. When a charity grows very quickly the finances are rarely transparent and it becomes a gravy train for those at the top.

 

[Bazzer]

Eric Hoffer said 'Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket'. I've often thought how true this is of so many charities and movements. When a charity grows very quickly the finances are rarely transparent and it becomes a gravy train for those at the top.

IME, policing of charities is poor.
There are thousands of charities who simply pass under the radar. I doubt The Times would have got involved in the paying for sex allegations, if it had not been charity workers of Oxfam.
According to Google, the Charity Commission has 420 employees. I would be surprised if many of those are actively involved in compliance activities, yet there are over 150,000 registered charities in the UK. Certainly from the limited involvement I have had with the CC, there seems to be an acceptance that charities are run properly, unless someone shows otherwise. Perhaps I am a cynical git who has seen and spoken with too many liars, but given the huge sums which pass through charities, I can't help wondering if this is not the wrong way round.

 

[Mr Celine]

Eton is a charity. Please give generously, top hats are expensive.

 

[slowmotion]

What lesson should we take from the news that his rellies have been looking to cash in big?
Is every staged display of gushing jingalgia a front for grasping voids flogging their kin?

I have no idea how much he raised for the NHS, or how much actually got into its coffers by whatever route. I can be absolutely sure that there will be a sneery, snidey take on the matter in NACA.

 

[qigong chimp]

Sneery, snidey?
Haddaway.
How about angry, exasperated, despairing at the cynical manipulation of public sentiment by profiteering nullities?

 

[AuroraSaab]

IME, policing of charities is poor.
There are thousands of charities who simply pass under the radar. I doubt The Times would have got involved in the paying for sex allegations, if it had not been charity workers of Oxfam.
According to Google, the Charity Commission has 420 employees. I would be surprised if many of those are actively involved in compliance activities, yet there are over 150,000 registered charities in the UK. Certainly from the limited involvement I have had with the CC, there seems to be an acceptance that charities are run properly, unless someone shows otherwise. Perhaps I am a cynical git who has seen and spoken with too many liars, but given the huge sums which pass through charities, I can't help wondering if this is not the wrong way round.

If your income is below a certain amount there isn't much independent governance required. Plus, almost anyone can set up a charity with little checking. I think I read somewhere that the UK has 500 charities for the homeless. You can't help but think that some of their activities would be better done as part of a bigger charity.

Sneery, snidey?
Haddaway.
How about angry, exasperated, despairing at the cynical manipulation of public sentiment by profiteering nullities?

I agree they flogged the He's Old ... He's a Soldier thing to the max, and it does look like there is stuff that needs investigating, but it's also fair to say that Tom's efforts touched people in a personal way. It's no different to the film of crying kittens in RSPCA adverts or the photos of emaciated children on Oxfam leaflets. Every charity plays on the heart strings.

Yes, it was sentimental, and with these news revelations it looks cynical, but it sounds like it's the Union Jack waving aspect of it that riles you the most.

 

[qigong chimp]

No it doesn't.
It's the dissonance between the prescribed/approved fantasies of cohesive, we're all in this together, altruism, just like we were in the war look! (sniffle) and the actual agenda.
See also banging pots to show big love for the NHS while HMG toil to break it up and flog it off.
See also we're-all-in-this-together during the pandemic while billions of public pounds are fast tracked into the pockets of Tory donors and Downing Street trolleys in the booze..
See also Brexit.

When did Union Jack become a flavour of Kool-Aid?

 

[theclaud]

Latest on the Captain Tom grift...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-61986597.amp

 

[newfhouse]

As someone else said, he must be walking in his grave.