Am I living in a different world ?

This morning whilst having my breakfast, I was listening to radio2, the Chris Evans show,

The "children in need" auction was taking place,

Several people were bidding over £100,000 for stuff.

Chris was saying "come on , don't lose it for the sake of another £15,000.

Now, I do think that "children in need" is a very worthy cause and I support the whole idea of it, so don't slag me off for being a miserable old man,

But what chance have I or anyone else got of making a bid on the auction , when these sort of figures are offered ?

I've worked hard for 40 years, paid off the mortgage, equipped a lovely commercial machine shop, but if I need to spend say £2000 on a secondhand mill , I really have to sit down and think about how much I can afford,

I thought there was a recession going on,

Am I living in a different world ?

Richard.

Edited By RICHARD GREEN 2 on 15/11/2012 09:40:43

Richard, no your not, they are. Well at least your in the same world as I am. Ian S C

Richard

Its not you living in a different world its the BBC tribe. You are forced to subscribe and the consequence of this is that they do not have to work hard like you because for them your money grows on their trees.

Alan

Hi Richard

My advice is don't listen to Chris Evans whilst eating your breakfast - it is likely to give you indigestion!

I don't really see the problem - items are being auctioned and will go to the highest bidder. The fact that there are those rich folk who can make high bids just means that lots of money is raised for the charity - which is, after all, the object of the exercise.

That you and I and the bulk of the population have worked hard and need to be careful about expenditure is a fact of life. Do you think you would be happier now if you had been in a position to bid £115,000 at the auction? It sounds to me that you have followed a pretty sound path through the jungle of life. My observation is that those with loads of money seem no happier than those with more modest resources. There are those, of course, with very little who must rely on help from others - for them it IS a different world.

Enough philosophy for today - off to the workshop!

Regards

Norman

Edited By NJH on 15/11/2012 10:51:26

By the sound of things the BBC might have to pull thier socks up, and sort them selves out a bit. Ian S C

Posted by Graham Meek on 15/11/2012 12:58:41:

Posted by chris j on 15/11/2012 11:05:32:

Richard

I would be very suprised if those bids will turn into real cash.

Things like that are plagued by people who feel the need to inflate themselves for the 30 secs they are Chris Evans's "friend"

Chris (no friend)

Hello Chris,

I think you are right there, it is a bit like these people who have £500,000.00 and want to escape to the country, they want something like Chatsworth for their dough but never take the plunge, they just want 30 minutes on TV.

They could become a lot more popular and rewrite on the forum.

We are supporting our Grandsons school "Children in Need" campaign that way two lots of children get something out of it. They learn they need to do things to get money and they also learn to be charitable to others, thats it no more preaching this year.

Gray,

Gray,

Gray

I agree with you that Children in Need is a worthy cause and it's nice that you involve yourself in supporting them & your Grandson at the same time,

I'm more than happy if you bang on a bit about charities like that , the only thing I'd say it to check how much is taken up with "admin" and how much goes to the "needy" I did and was very surprised. I'll try and find a link and post it.

Chris

This a lot more detailed but interesting

Another. Link

Edited By chris j on 15/11/2012 13:51:27

What a generous man you are Norman. Unfortunately, I cannot view things so dispasssionately and quite frankly it makes me sick to think of Evans on (allegedly) £600,000 of licence payers money for playing a few records and talking a load of b****x. Obviously for the likes of him a bid of £10K would be a mere drop in the ocean.

Mick

Hi,

I agree about bloated prices and the unsavoury wealth of some, especially given the recent revelations about the bank bonus regime and huge payoffs for failure. However much as I dislike Chris Evans and his blatantly ostentatious bragging about his wealth, I must say that at least he started from scratch, working at three jobs at a time while studying at school (his father died early and he helped to run the family shop amongst other work) and has since worked at what he is good at. So at least he worked hard to get ahead unlike others who manipulate our bank rates etc to earn huge bonuses for doing nothing or simply choosing the right parents.

Terry

BBC Chidren in Need, the CEO Martina Milburn is on £62000 Pa.

Charity is a fine thing if it gets to the people who actually need it but I have personally come across charity that only seemed to benifit the operatives in location where they lived in penthouse flats and had the use of the latest 4 x 4's and partied every night at the expense of the charity.

Look at the RSPCA where bequests are often used for the benifit of the board, recent bequests to look after living pets that then die as they will and where does the money go?

look further to the RSPB who are buying up water bird areas to the exclusion of all others who might want to use it.

All this money is put up, by the public in good faith !

I hate being; 'Chugged' by people in the street, I now just glare at them.

Clive

Richard,

money's not everything, you can't tell me a bloke with £10 million pounds is any happier than a bloke with £9 million!!!

Peter

The fact is that Evans and the B.B.C are businesses, and so are these so called Charities"look at the billions held in offshore banks, property and so called art treasures,only a tiny proportion of the interest goes to the "cause" that is how they can operate as charities. Sorry to bleat on, on here but the more I find out about so called "charities" the more I dislike what I learn!

If you want to know the truth about a charity's finances look their annual report and accounts up on the Charity Commission website. Salaries of staff earning over £40K will be declared along with all the information you might want to assess if they make good use of the money they get.

I am in a position to know the real facts about these issues, and quite happy to answer any questions on these issues at length, as long as it isn't viewed as irrelevant to the forums.

Neil

Hi Mick

You say "What a generous man you are Norman." - well I would like to be thought of as such but really all I'm saying is that Evans is low on the list of things that irritate me, I never listen to him or his show and he isn't important enough to rile me. I wouldn't pay him £6 let alone £600K. I do try ( often unsuccessfully) not to get too upset by things I can't change - it's not good for the blood prerssure!

Regards

Norman

Edited By NJH on 15/11/2012 22:11:13

With respect, most of the big animal charities are drenched in donations because they are the most popular recipients of money on people's death. It's the smaller, less 'popular' charities that have to work at it. The fact is that there are many worthy causes out there that aren't television friendly that make a little money go a long way and arguably equally worthy as Children In Need. I'm guessing that the BBC will be working specially hard this year to make CIN a good PR exercise for them as well as raising money.

Hi Norman

Sorry, it was clumsy phrasing on my part. Generosity was intended to refer to those less fortunates that you mentioned, not CE.

Best wishes

Mick

It is interesting that a Charity that deals with children, RSPCC has no homes or facilities for housing children and is just case working officers who attend and presumably pass on to the police any thing they find that is not right.

I would then presume that any monies donated go straight into the day to day running and wages, so very low overheads there.

Clive