Sunday 16th November

Whatever I may end up writing about Charity will not in the slightest denigrate from the hard work and honest intentions of ordinary people all over the world.  I would just like to state that in a decent society there should be no need for Charity at all.  In fact, the very existence of Charities has the unfortunate result of both local and central Governments taking their feet off the pedal and not providing adequate provision for many vulnerable people.  There is also the philosophical ambiguity that many wealthy people will avoid paying their taxes (or minimizing the amount they do pay) and then quite happily donate sums (after deducting the tax) to Charity.  In fact we have the very rich even setting up foundations to help many poor people.  All very commendable of course, but they are taking the Conservative principle of individual responsibility to a higher level, in that they are deciding how their taxes will be spent rather than an elected Government.  And wouldn’t we all like to be able to do this.  If I could I would stop any of my taxes going towards Nuclear or any other Weapons and have it all spent on Hospitals and Schools.

There is also the industry that Charity has become, employing many people.  The most successful Charities using expensive Advertising to increase revenue, even if many actually donate less than half of this revenue after administrative expenses are paid.  Then there is the haphazard nature of Charity, where certain Charities, for example RSPCA get more donations than some that may actually be saving people’s lives.  You could say that that is Democracy (by accident) I suppose, but it does seem a chaotic and quite inefficient way of dealing with need.  You could of course argue that Government spending is even more haphazard and inefficient.  I would in no way suggest that Charities should be stopped, but they could do with some better form of regulation.  I, like almost everyone else am just as scatter-brained in my Charitable giving, reacting to emotion rather than sense.  You only have to watch daytime TV to see how many charities are preying on our emotions especially at this time of year.  One last thing to say and that is that giving one’s time would be far more effective than simply money.