Another nail in the coffin for the BBC
The BBC’s annual Comic Relief is a charity fundraiser that has raised over £750 million. Though there is much about it that is commendable, revelations that £150 million was invested in arms dealing firms and tobacco companies and lost £800,000 on a failed venture involving Gordon Ramsay will undoubtedly anger the public.
Having featured the BBC’s other charitable activities before – including them having employed Max Clifford as one of their spokesmen for Children in Need despite his having admitted to “know[ing]” the names of child abusers and now facing a trial based on 11 counts of indecent assault – this latest disgrace is indicative of the culture of indifference and carelessness that is plainly predicates through this publicly controlled broadcasting house.
That a BBC Panorama investigation into the claims about Comic Relief’s investment strategy has been twice shelved at the instruction of the corporation’s Director General Lord Hall and that staff costs at Comic Relief have doubled from £7.1 million a year in 2008 to £13.5 million in 2012 are further illustration of what is wrong with “Auntie’s” attitude to how to manage their charitable activities.
It is time that the incompetent organisation that is the BBC was either properly regulated or privatised. The Charity Commission, equally, would do well to act also. If they did, they might show themselves to be something other than a toothless waste of space.
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Gordon Ramsay and his kitchen nightmares (USA) Gordon Ramsay only saved 2 of the 21 restaurants in the first two seasons of the show. Restaurant owners desperate to save their business from going belly-up have called on the help of Gordon Ramsay in his hit Fox Television show. If I only had the money Gordon has lost in business ventures in the past, I would happily live in a penthouse in New York Forever. The Yanks know no better, they will eat up his verbal shit.
Close the BBC. It is a drain on Britain.
Nothing wrong with investments in either arms companies or tobacco companies, provided they make money.
You are right there but it won’t go down well with the public. My issue is with their overall incompetence and their lackadaisical investments in so-called “celebrities” like Gordon Ramsay. The Charity Commission and the BBC have a lot to answer for.
Shares of Tobacco Companies have been soaring high recently, not a bad investment . Better than the Gordon Ramsay disasters. BBC should be privatised and purged
Children in Need and Comic Relief’s links to pedophiles like Jimmy Savile and pedlars of cancer causing drugs is a disgrace. You cannot condone this.
British Broadcasting Corporation have a brilliant strategy to divert attention away and bury negative stories, they are devoting all their airtime to Nelson Mandela’s death. Hiding the story in the shadows.
Spot on.
Large Charities such as Children in Need but not only them make great play of the amount of money raised but not the cost associated and indeed where they “invest” money whilst they are getting around to giving it to those in need. Littel attention is given to the analyssi of their accounts which would give some insight into the “profitability” of their activities
Derek: Knowing your passion, drive and dedication to the causes you support, I entirely agree. It is especially galling to see such waste, plundering and greed dominate the charitable sector. It is unacceptable in fact and the Charity Commission is to blame. It needs to be closed down.
Derek is stating that the operational costs involved in managing a large charity such as “Children in Need” is staggering. Perhaps their “Balance Sheet” should be made more transparent to the general public.
Derek is not suggesting that the celebrities with their big compassionate hearts are paid huge amounts of money to participate in “Red Nose Day” via money or fringe benefits? Remember the public is expected to give their all.