For things “Money Can’t Buy”. Yes, they can. Obviously. And I know it raises a good deal of money for a good cause. But perhaps the auction bit has run its course?

Does anyone else feel a bit uncomfortable and isolated by the whole thing? We have a day of pandering to the very richest in society in exchange for giving them some interesting experiences, then the rest of us get hit with a week of pleas tugging at the heartstrings and a plea to donate a fiver.

*switches over to Radio 4*

The whole thing makes me want to puke with its condescension, descriptions of people as “brave” or “sufferers” and its non inclusive ethos.

Piss on pity

I can’t believe some people ^^^^

One of the biggest bands in the U.K. have donated a free gig to the highest bidder, someone has offered to give £475,000 for that which will go to children who need it most.

I wish I could join in, I would have loved to drive all Chris Evans Ferraris which they auctioned off in previous years. Great idea and may it continue.

It’s no different to a school auction of promises, just more £££££s!

If the rich want to be parted with their money for charity, then that’s fine by me.

All charities have their issues with wasted money, but Children in Need are one of the better ones.

I’m with Robdob.

Only time I used to listen to R2 when I commuted. I remember some fella paying £100k to take his family to see the northern lights with Ray Mears. Absolutely brilliant.

Cash goes to children and families who need it. I’m really struggling to see the negatives!

I’d love to have the cash, thanks for the PSA, I’ll listen later and make sure I donate.

I can’t believe some people ^^^^

One of the biggest bands in the U.K. have donated a free gig to the highest bidder, someone has offered to give £475,000 £1,100000.00 ( 😯 )for that which will go to children who need it most.

Completely agree.

OP, it’s their money and they can do whatever they want with it – the fact that they decide to give a chunk of it to a good cause should be applauded.

You could/can win some of the same stuff with just a £5 text if you could be arsed.

We have a day of pandering to the very richest in society

In what way are they pandered to? By having their name mentioned on the radio?

I know it’s all for a good cause, and the poor celebrities are giving up their precious time etc. etc. however the sceptic in me wonders how much of these charitable donations are paid through a company & deducted from their tax liability… wonder if anyone’s ever submitted an FOI request to see where the % of donations come from – personal or business accounts?

Obviously if I ran a company that could bung half a million quid to charity instead of the tax man, i’d certainly be tempted to bid for the private Take That gig & have them play to absolutely nobody in a rancid barn.

Also, being preached to by rich celebrities – many of whom employ all manner of financial jiggery pokery to avoid paying as much tax as possible – to give generously gets slightly tired after a while.

however the sceptic in me wonders how much of these charitable donations are paid through a company & deducted from their tax liability…

£1.1m directly to Children in Need will probably be better spent that £1.1m to the taxman.

£1.1m directly to Children in Need will probably be better spent that £1.1m to the taxman.

Round my way things like hospitals and schools are funded from general taxation.

What can be wrong with raising money for Charity? I think it’s very impressive personally, Chris Evans must have raised millions over the years for CiN.

And there are ballots for lesser mortals to grab a seat etc for only a £5 bid.

Round my way things like hospitals and schools are funded from general taxation.

Don’t worry, that won’t be for long if Jeremy Hunt gets his way.

the fact that they decide to give a chunk of it to a good cause should be applauded.

+10

But perhaps the auction bit has run its course?

So you’re suggesting they should raise less money for CiN? Is that really what you want?

In all these things I think a good test is ‘Is the world a better place for it?’ and I’d say that raising a few million for CIN vs annoying a few moaners for one week, then the answer is yes (by a mile).

Round my way things like hospitals and schools are funded from general taxation.

…and the specialist care side of things have generally been provided by charities. The NHS can’t be all things to all people, charities have to fill in the gaps, and were doing so long before the NHS existed.

Flaperon
£1.1m directly to Children in Need will probably be better spent that £1.1m to the taxman.
Round my way things like hospitals and schools are funded from general taxation.

Exactly my point – what would happen if everyone who could, simply donated all their taxable income to the charity of their choice instead of into general taxation & get their name in lights and a luxury weekend break for being so “generous” with money that might otherwise been allocated to a new children’s hospital, cycling infrastructure (stop laughing) or palliative care facility?

Although, granted – 1.1m to children in need probably would be better spent than the governments’ latest vanity project for megacity 1… 😆

Oh Jesus Christ!!

Talk about Bah, Humbug!!

I will admit to being mildly envious of those who have the ‘spare’ money to enable them to give hundreds of thousands to charity and end up getting to go on these ‘money can’t buy’ experiences!
I’d love to be in a position to spank that amount of cash for a good cause & get some kind of ‘unique-ish’ event out of it.

When they have had the winners of the car auction things in the past on the air, they have all come across as really nice people.

Long may it continue, in my opinion. As above, Chris Evans must have raised millions over the years for Children in Need. Like him or loathe him, he is one of those people who can get things done.
I think car-fest has been going now for over 5 years & all the money for that goes to Children in Need too.

Exactly my point – what would happen if everyone who could, simply donated all their taxable income to the charity of their choice instead of into general taxation

They’d just change the tax rules to accommodate. It’s a complete non issue.

How anyone can moan about raising money for Children in Need is beyond me……

Exactly my point – what would happen if everyone who could, simply donated all their taxable income to the charity of their choice instead of into general taxation & get their name in lights and a luxury weekend break for being so “generous” with money that might otherwise been allocated to a new children’s hospital, cycling infrastructure (stop laughing) or palliative care facility?

Yep, he’s made a huge contribution to society, all off his own back with no need to do so. Whereas all the wingers on this thread have done what exactly, found yet another excuse not to help someone else and only take care of themselves?

the-muffin-man

…and the specialist care side of things have generally been provided by charities. The NHS can’t be all things to all people, charities have to fill in the gaps, and were doing so long before the NHS existed.

Yep, totally agree – i’m not saying charities shouldn’t get donations, they need everythign they get – just that some people are being heralded as saints when they’re not actually putting their hands in their pockets, it’s money they wouldn’t have had anyway – just that now a charity (a very good one) has it instead of the government. It’s the hard up 72 year old from the arse end of some council estate that’s given her last fiver instead of putting the heating on that should be given a luxury weekend away & waited on hand & foot by a michelin starred team of chefs.

J

😉

footflaps
They’d just change the tax rules to accommodate. It’s a complete non issue.

That’s a fair point, sadly I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen

How anyone can moan about raising money for Children in Need is beyond me……

I’m certainly not moaning about raising money for children in need, just the hero status attributed to the completely wrong set of people, it’s no skin off their noses – admittedly they do raise a fair chunk of cash, so fair play for that.

J

I know what the ‘knockers’ are talking about.

I’m glad it exists; I’m happy Sir Whatshisname always drops a fortune on something every year for it and it raises a lot of money.

But… I must admit when it’s on, I don’t listen, call it envy but in years gone by I’ve been listening at times when I’m wondering if we’re going to get to the next payday or worse when the next pay day is coming and when you’re dealing with that, it can sound like a lot of Millionaires having a pissing contest and a bit of a circle jerk of self-congratulation.
So I give R2 a miss for a week or however long it’s on.

just the hero status attributed to the completely wrong set of people,

You mean they get their name mentioned on R2 a few times on the breakfast show?

And by completely wrong, you mean people who are choosing to give vast sums of money to charity?

Seems like a very, very good deal to me, in exchange for not very much, a Charity gets a huge cash injection it wouldn’t otherwise see. Would you rather they spent it on yachts and gave nothing to Charity?

it can sound like a lot of Millionaires having a pissing contest and a bit of a circle jerk of self-congratulation.

I don’t disagree, but if that’s the price for raising a few million for Charity, I’m quite happy with it.

I don’t listen to the stuff on Radio 2, Chris Evans breakfast show is crap and i’ll watch a bit of the telly stuff while the kids are up but then turn over to something good when they’ve gone to bed.

But I can afford to give £10 or £20 so I will, and if millionaire tax dodgers can find a way of getting extra millions to good causes then great. Takes it out of the hands of some other rich nob in puts it to good use.

IMO it’s the total at the end thats important not how it got there or who it came from.

however the sceptic in me wonders how much of these charitable donations are paid through a company & deducted from their tax liability…

You can’t make charitable donations instead of paying tax – donations just reduce your taxable profit. Making a donation of £100 would only reduce a company’s tax liability by £20.

Government (both national and local) are massive funders of the charity sector – either through grant making or by contracting services from charities. So so a company giving directy to charity results not only in a larger sum going to a good cause (instead of 80% to the shareholders and 20% to the government) but it also either offsets or adds value to expenditure that government is making themselves

so

£1.1m directly to Children in Need will probably be better spent that £1.1m to the taxman.

1.1m given to charity is equivalent to 0.18m to the taxman – from which less than 1% (£13 billion in total) comes back out as either grants or contracts to charities.

Chris Evans must have raised millions over the years for Children in Need. Like him or loathe him, he is one of those people who can get things done.

Now who else did we used to say something rather similar about? 🙂

footflaps
And by completely wrong, you mean people who are choosing to give vast sums of money to charity?

Yes. As I already said… who gives “more” & should be praised for their efforts, some millionaire chucking a few grand in instead of that 1960-odd chateau margeaux they really wanted or the old biddy who has just had her ‘leccy cut off as her last fiver went in instead of buying a powercard?

Who most deserves a commendation for their donation?

Obviously sentiment doesn’t add £££££ to the total, but it’s become a complete cock-waving contest & that little picture up there sums it up for a lot of people.

in exchange for not very much, a Charity gets a huge cash injection it wouldn’t otherwise see. Would you rather they spent it on yachts and gave nothing to Charity?

Of course not – that’s a rather mean spirited insinuation, my point was if the country’s rich have to be swayed into donating their spare wads of cash to charity by the associated high value “perks” of said donations, it leaves a slight bitter edge to the whole transaction – like if they wouldn’t bung a few quid into the poppy appeal tin if there weren’t any poppies left…

maccruiskeen – thanks for the clarification on the company tax charitable donations thing, wasn’t sure what the limitations were.

J

I think these people on the CE show would probably give a lot to charity anyway, they aren’t any names I’ve heard of and a fair amount are anonymous. There certainly isn’t any mention of them apart from their name and that’s only during the auction. So they bid, possibly get their name mentioned once or twice during the show then that’s it. Hardly willy waving.

Christ there really are some miserable t***s (talking utter bollocks) out there! I bet you wouldn’t be quite so vocal if it was your children benefitting from the charities that CiN supports.

maccruiskeen – thanks for the clarification on the company tax charitable donations thing, wasn’t sure what the limitations were.

my figure above is out of date – government funding to the 3rd sector has fallen by 3bn or more over the last few years

the politics of envy.. i ll admit to been a pit miffed when i hear jeremy donated 35k for a ride in some ferraris on a grand day out but hey thats the way of the world somewhere they ll be somebody who wishes they had a mrs two kids and would even be happy living near rochdale so i smile be just a bit jealous and let em spend their money.

to those knocking it i ll ask two questions.. do you ring up the tax folks every month and say i d like to pay a bit more towards the nhs this month please, or do you keep stum. and secondly how can i reduce my overall tax bill and thus increase my disposable income by
donating money

There are, of course, ballots to win the swanky prizes for a fiver. Not perfect, but it is intended to raise the most money it can.

Worth remembering that most of the people involved in this annual back slapping session have gotten rich on licence payers coin – one of the most unfair, vicious and regressive taxes in existence

Worth remembering that most of the people involved in this annual back slapping session have gotten rich on licence payers coin – one of the most unfair, vicious and regressive taxes in existence

and completely optional, there is no compulsion to have a TV, we don’t.

Who most deserves a commendation for their donation?

And the prize for missing the whole point of charitable donations is awarded.

If you come at things like CiN from that point of view, you probably need to be asking questions of yourself.

Some rich people getting a kick out of being ‘special’ and on R2 seems a small price to pay for raising lots of cash for a great cause.

There’s lots of competition by charities so R2/Children in Need give big ‘spenders’ special treatment so their money goes to them and not another charity.

So, you can afford to spend a million on a one off concert, which will aid charities in the UK, but you shouldn’t cos some internet wombat might feel uncomfortable?

The OP needs to get a grip.

Do what you like with your money, WGAF what others think. Come tomorrow they’ll have forgot about it and moved on to something else to feel bad about.

Worth pointing out-
For your £5, do you know how much goes to the ‘Children in Need’ charity..?
Evans on R2 this morning: ‘Between £2.40 and £3.75 goes to Children in Need.’
Therefore someone, somewhere is making an awful lot of money from this scam.
And your mobile provider will also charge you for making the donation!!!

From their somewhat reduced contribution, CiN have to then pay a huge lot of their own admin costs before they actually start doing any good.
It is a money machine, much loved by those in the establishment and used by some as a means to salve their dodgy moral compass after avoiding their fair share of taxes.
+1 for the comments above about corporate contributions claiming tax deductions for their charitable donations. Many of these large bids will be tax deducted for someone; I’ve seen it happen. UK society would do much better if these corporates paid their proper taxes instead of pretending like this.

what would happen if everyone who could, simply donated all their taxable income to the charity of their choice instead of into general taxation & get their name in lights and a luxury weekend break for being so “generous” with money

I’m not sure you understand how the income tax system works.

It’s impossible to give money to charity, and somehow be better off financially than you were before, no matter how good your accountant is.

It IS generous, there is no need to put it in inverted commas.

Government (both national and local) are massive funders of the charity sector – either through grant making or by contracting services from charities.

So if a charity has a contract with the government to provide services on behalf of the state for a fee agreed as part of a commercial arrangement then are they really a charity or just a service provider company?

Why not throw all the extravagant prizes in a raffle at £10 a ticket would think the pot would far exceed the amounts that some rich person has bid for it.
Would think Take That would much rather play to a run of the mill person and friends than some Rich person who will have their “friends” round just to ram one up them!

There are a lot of businesses out there that have the infrastructure to accommodate the call centres/payment services that this initiative needs, all funded/provided FOC and the teams who man the phones do it FOC too.

It’s a once a year charity binge, £5 doesn’t even buy you a sandwich and coffee from Pret these days, why not go hungry for one day and hand that £5 over to Children who may need a meal??

What’s wrong with a charity auction complementing other measures? Would it be better to ban opportunities to part rich people from their money even in a good cause?

How very odd….