To have found Chris Evan's 'Auction' on Radio 2 this moring to be in very bad taste?

[GMajor7]

Yeeees..I know! It's for Charidee! But really - several people phoning in with 60K plus bids to drive Ferraris. Made me feel queasy.

And.............charge!!

[2shoes]

??
why in bad taste?
as long as it gets money for CIN who cares

[GMajor7]

Just not sure the 'listenership' will have appreciated it given the current climate.

[jonicomelately]

Today was Ok.

I was really mad when all those tossers cricketers were all hyper about the great day they were going to have and how they wanted the venue to be the Oval/Barbados when the whole point of the exercise was a brilliant day at a somebody's little cricket club.

To his credit Chris Evans was trying to rein them in but they were not really getting it.

[GMajor7]

I'm up for the charity thing and donate myself to several, but it just did't sit right with me this morning....now where did I leave that £50K....

[Rannaldini]

sorry I think that you are talking nonsense

for those who can afford it it's a really good thing and all the proceeds go to charity
tbh tel did it for years and the prizes were always out of reach for plebs still made for interesting listening

[GMajor7]

Fair enough. Just not subtle enough for me. I realise most will disagree.

[c0rns1lk]

are you Chris Moyles?

[Chil1234]

YABU... If someone can afford thousands to give to charity, why stand in their way? These days there are a lot of cries of 'tax the rich more!!' and complaints if they try to avoid paying it. If Evans/Wogan can open wallets better than the Chancellor, why not?

[mistressploppy]

YABU - recessions never affect the richest folk, so this is a good way to relieve them of some cash for people who need it more. They get a smug glow, charity gets hard cash

[Rannaldini]

what subtle way would you suggest he run the auction?

[GMajor7]

No aswer to that Ranaldini

I'll mull it over while I'm out test-driving that Lambourghini.

[Quenelle]

Charities need the money more than ever at the moment because overall donations are going down, for obvious reasons. It would be counter-productive to make people who can afford it feel awkward about giving their money away.

This is a fantastic way to raise funds. I have found the auctions very entertaining. The cricketers were on the show talking up the event in order to attract higher bids.

[jonicomelately]

It got annoyed me Quenelle when Darren Gough said 'Let's do it in Barbados. I need a holiday" .

[pagwatch]

There is a bit of a damned if you do damned if you don't thing isn't there.
If he had started the auction and no one had phoned in then people would say 'FFS, I know times are hard but there are people out there with money. Selfish fuckers should phone in,especially as times are so hard'.

[NetworkGuy]

YANBU. For those who can afford it then they could give lump sums separately (with or without identifying themselves) and not squeeze out Joe Public who doesn't have tens of thousands, but would like to drive a special car one day...

The very rich can drive a Ferrari any time they want (and fly to Nevada or Utah - one state has no speed limit, just expect drivers to "go safely and be aware of road conditions" so on a good day with high visibility you can push a car to its limit, as long as you are not endangering anyone).

If they want to publicise their business they could have a "presentation size" cheque and get their own photographer to snap them handing it over to a local BBC radio station manager (or one of the presenters if more photogenic!)

What annoys me most are where there are costly telephone charges and the networks are unwilling to donate any of the chunk they receive.

Some number I heard recently had only 80% of the cost going to CIN. BBC doesn't take anything but promotes it everywhere (including The Archers) so who gains? Network operator. BT often supplies call centre staff (heck, bet they would be twiddling their thumbs that evening anyway!) but AFAIK, is not the supplier for other services to BBC.

BBC does not pay 'extra' for the short codes (88291 85058 etc, and 81333 for local radio stations) but those are not within any 'bundled' text allowance (and if you do pay, they can be 4 times the cost of a normal text to another mobile or landline).

BBC was criticised for adopting 0870 numbers a while ago (esp people behind SayNoTo0870) and dismissed it as the deal they get is for the network to supply them at short notice, be flexible and give them nice numbers, so the BBC think it works well for them.

Network operator rakes in money as a result of this 'back scratching' deal and who pays ? Us.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

I am sure I heard him say on MOnday that he was trying to make the auction this year less exclusive and was talking about £1.50 for somwthing, can anyone enlighten me as I don' have any spare money at the moment let alone a few tens of thousands.

[RiverOfSleep]

I heard terry Wogan on Sunday doing an auction, people were paying massive amounts. I did wonder how they know the bids are genuine and not from mad old ladies - I wouldn't trust anyone wanting to pay thousands of pounds for breakfast with gok wan...

It's just another world for some people and they can afford it - and it goes to a good cause

[minipen]

the £1.50 refers to sending a text for a chance to win something (can't remember what)

The auction annoyed me in that it went on for so long & is way beyond my means. Chris also said that peole have no idea how children suffer, erm actually some of your listeners do.

[AitchTwoOh]

re bbc staff at call centres. they volunteer.

[AitchTwoOh]

sorry, bt. not bbc.

[BangingNoise]

I found it boring and put a CD on instead. It's great that so much cash is being raised for CiN but I don't care about golf or people who want to pay 20 grand to play golf with someone I have never heard of.

[RiverOfSleep]

Thanks everything. I wondered about that - blimey can you imagine sticking 60 grand on a credit card!!!!

I agree that it's good that people who can afford it are paying lots and raising lots of money for CIN. It just seems so wierd that they have that sort
of spare cash, it's totally outside what is 'normal' life for me. And I'd like to think if I was that rich I'd already have given it as a donation rather than buying something - but I know chances are they may well have given lots of donations anyway.

So OP i don't agree with you but I can totally see where you're coming from.

[risingstar]

i love chris evans, and indeed old tel but i have always HATED WITH A PASSION the ridiculously named "auction for things that money can't buy"

because, it shows entirely that if you have enough money- yes you bloody well can.

it may be a step in the right direction with everyone having a chance for £1.50. In all honestly- i would find it brilliant radio if they phoned people up live on the show to tell them that they had won. lets hope that if more money is raised with the text for a chance model they will move away from the truly sickening way it is run now.

and if they start banging on about how generous the donors are for"the children" i will scream. if that was their motivation they would chuck their spare £50k in the hat anyway- they are buying a fun time with Mr Evans because that is what they choose to spend thier money on, oh and now i think about it probably write it off against tax.

rant over- wanted to express that for years.