Faith, hope and charidee

Another year and another Friday evening spent trying to avoid anything remotely related to the annual celebrity hypocrisy fest known as Comic Relief. I understand that this years event raised record amounts which is something the British people can rightly be proud of - but the celebrities involved less so.

I'm one of those people who believe that helping charities is something which should be done quietly and privately. It should be put into context by the fact that the total sum raised on Friday was roughly half that raised by the late Jeremy Beadle alone over his years dedicated to supporting various charities which he did without the fuss and self-aggrandisement that those celebrities wheeled out for Comic Relief like to display.

Add on the blatant hypocrisy of various pop-stars, comedians and other celebs who fly out to some African village to watch some poor kids die of malaria then moan that a £5 mosquito net could save them. For some reason, it never occurs to them, as they and their film crew head back to their five star hotel, that a few grand out of their more than considerable personal wealth would probably provide enough mosquito nets for that village and the dozen or so surrounding villages too.

Sorry if this sounds mean-spirited, but I don't like all this self-publicising "look at what I am doing to help" displays of the modern charitable giving. No doubt in my office there will be various young men and women telling all and sundry how they shaved their heads/waxed their backs or sat in a bath of baked beans for 5 minutes all in the name of charidee. As for the celebs - all they do is give up a few minutes of their time or go on some trip somewhere (who pays for that, by the way?) and they think that is enough.

I don't think it is. They should all take a leaf out of the Jeremy Beadle book of charity support - except that requires real effort and real dedication and doesn't bring anything like as much publicity.