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Original poster

to think Camila Batmanghelidjh is fucking awesome?

448 replies

bejeezus · 04/07/2012 10:50

I saw her talk on a news programme last night...

shes so composed and articulate, and clear-sighted and insightful and compassionate and calm and stylish and unique...

and the work she does/ what she acheives is OUTSTANDING..

heres a link to her wiki page...but it doesnt do her any justice

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camila_Batmanghelidjh

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 07/08/2015 13:25

Maybe to be in charge of a large charity you have to be a bit of a 'coin artist'. Nice typo!

limitedperiodonly · 07/08/2015 13:25

it was brave of her to appear and face up to the allegations. A lot of people wouldn't have.

Sometimes people appear on TV news because they are utterly convinced of their charm despite all evidence to the contrary.

and another one of Dave's Big Society chums, was another one.

Her appearance on Ch4 News was a car crash.

I've one ear cocked to the TV news and Dave is going on about giving Kids' Company 'one last chance' that sadly didn't work out.

Where have I heard that before?

On that track record, I'm seriously considering sending Dave a badly spelled email saying that my uncle is a big cheese in the Nigerian government and there is £2 million waiting for him if he only gives me his bank account details.

ElementaryMyDearWatson · 07/08/2015 14:03

Some sensible points here:
www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/06/kids-companys-demise-speaks-volumes-about-how-britain-is-run

Oliversmumsarmy · 07/08/2015 14:05

I saw her when she was just opening Kids Company and just thought she came across as a middle class do gooder. She reminded me of one of those politicians who tell the public what they want to hear with out any thought of peoples nature or how they are going to pay for it.

I came from poverty, no bed, no bath, no heating, 1 cold water tap and an outside toilet and 8 adults 2 children sharing a 2 1/2 bed house. the only thing that got me out was knowing I did not want to be there when I became an adult. Someone throwing money at me would have been counter productive in the long term.

LurkingHusband · 07/08/2015 14:14

David Cameron telling us he was right.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33822035

I'm sure Mandy Rice Davies has said all I would say.

scarlets · 07/08/2015 14:16

I have no idea what to say about her. I have read so many conflicting reports. People who've dealt with her either really admire her, or really, really don't. She polarises opinion.

I don't like the idea of handing envelopes of money to teenagers who turn up. I can see why staff were uncomfortable with this. Gotta be counterproductive in many cases.

BoffinMum · 07/08/2015 14:19

I think it's unreasonable to blame local authorities of so much, given that the Tories, and many in New Labour, have been happily dismantling their funding and governance structures for a generation now, leaving inadequate resources for many tasks and Local Authorities more or less disempowered.

Combine that with the utter contempt expressed for local authority and public sector employees, and a political rhetoric accusing them being parasitic pension-hogging incompetents, worthy only of tossing to Capita and Serco on a whim, and you also see an impact on recruitment and retention in the sector. Hence we do not have the quality of public sector employees we might have had in, say, the 1930s to 1950s.

In short, we voted for privatisation and a small state.

Then we got the public sector we deserve.

(By the way, Murdoch is poised to take over the education side of things and teach your children via computer instead of via people, so watch this space).

Gemauve · 07/08/2015 14:30

150 people marched from a Kids Company office to Downing Street.

Given the number of clients claimed and staff discussed, and allowing for a lot of them looking like parents, that doesn't seem very many, does it?

Wolpertinger · 07/08/2015 14:38

Indeed. I suspect the numbers actually being caseworked at a serious level will turn out to be very small. Possibly less than 250. Which for an organization pulling in millions a year and claiming to support 36000 is mind boggling.

BoffinMum · 07/08/2015 15:08

36000 probably includes kids going into Place2be in school and having a bit of a moan about perfectly ordinary parents, like Childline.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 07/08/2015 15:10

Don't he numbers also include all those who come into contact with a child as the speshul treatment impacts them too, love spreads etc
.

HarrietVane99 · 07/08/2015 15:16

I think Cameron/the govt were probably damned if they did and damned if they didn't regarding the three mill. If they hadn't given it CB could have been wailing that they'd done everything they'd been asked to do, she was moving aside, and yet the evil govt was pulling the plug. Now there is clear evidence of financial mismanagement there is much less scope to blame other people.

Sayings about giving people enough rope come to mind.

Gemauve · 07/08/2015 15:18

Don't he numbers also include all those who come into contact with a child as the speshul treatment impacts them too, love spreads etc

Someone upthread (or in one of the related thread) claimed that KC argued that helping one child helped their whole school class, so multiplied all the numbers by thirty. I can't believe that's true, but the difficulty everyone seems to be having in finding all the clients they allegedly helped does make one wonder.

LurkingHusband · 07/08/2015 15:22

I think Cameron/the govt were probably damned if they did and damned if they didn't regarding the three mill. If they hadn't given it CB could have been wailing that they'd done everything they'd been asked to do, she was moving aside, and yet the evil govt was pulling the plug. Now there is clear evidence of financial mismanagement there is much less scope to blame other people.

Sorry. Bollocks. The £3mill was repeated blocked under government regulations until Cameron personally ordered it paid. All that had to happen was .... nothing. The regulations would have been followed, and it's a non-story.

All Cameron has done is demonstrate how hard-nosed Tory economics wilts when faced with aggressive flamboyance. Already disabled protesters are planning a march on Downing Street with Carmen Miranda hats, and Tie-Dyed togas.

Sayings about giving people enough rope come to mind.

Except it was our rope. A £3,000,000 rope.

LurkingHusband · 07/08/2015 15:24

Someone upthread (or in one of the related thread) claimed that KC argued that helping one child helped their whole school class, so multiplied all the numbers by thirty. I can't believe that's true,

What. That they made that claim, or that's it's actually true ?

I can easily believe they made it. Although they have probably been reading the Tory playbook on how to make numbers sound good.

Gemauve · 07/08/2015 15:29

What. That they made that claim, or that's it's actually true ?

That they made the claim (I think we're all on the same page that if the claim had been made, it would be utter bullshit). I am sceptical about the claim having been made because surely not even the dimmest corporate or government donor would fall for it?

But in this case, my capacity for incredulity is rapidly being exceeded by the sheer amount of bizarreness, so maybe I am doing an injustice to the inventiveness of CB. There is something sometimes truly marvellous about the breadth and depth of the fantasies that the deluded can construct.

FatherReboolaConundrum · 07/08/2015 15:29

The original Spectator article from Feb this year says of the 36,000 figure:

"In an email to me the charity wrote: When we refer to clients they include children, young people, young adults with special needs, carers, i.e. foster parents or parents who predominantly have mental health difficulties, and school staff."

So, for every child you need to add X number of school staff plus parents/foster parents. So even conservatively that would be a ratio of say 5 carers for every child, so a total of 6,000 not 36,000 children supported. Or, it could include all school staff in every school with Kids Company-supported children, in which case it will be a fraction of 6,000 children helped. But Kids Company were obviously too special and magic to worry about dull stuff like precise figures, so we'll never know.

ohdobuckup · 07/08/2015 15:31

Only caught the tail end of it,but last night Radio5 live was talking to the woman who sold her house to fund specific projects in Kids Company ; food training I think, and the the provision of fresh food for the clients.

She basically said that there was no evidence at all for the number CB was claiming for meals, and when challenged was insulted and demeaned. The woman then said she thought CB was a self-aggrandising liar, at which point Radio5 pulled the plug on her, which was a shame to say the least, but I suppose they had to cover themselves. A bit like CB really..

LurkingHusband · 07/08/2015 15:33

My mind machine briefly flashed up "It Takes A Village".

Want2bSupermum · 07/08/2015 15:49

I think she started a charity and did a great job of growing it but she should have hired someone to run it professionally.

I'm also scratching my head wondering what the heck happened to LA and social services. Those neglected children should not be left in that state.

As for children in care going to fee paying schools, it was going on in the 90s. I went to a top 10 boarding school and we had numerous children who were in care or going home to foster parents at the end of term. It's nothing new and I think it's a fabulous idea. My good friend is a successful adult who has two wonderful boys. When you consider the cost of care homes I think boarding school makes much more sense for children without severe needs. Having said one other girl was born addicted to drugs and her mother was a heroin addict later on. She had a tough first year but after that she was fine. Today she is successful as well.

BoffinMum · 07/08/2015 15:53

Wolpertinger, and I have an inkling we may know each other in RL, I am now wanting to know more about Childline and its funding. Is over-claiming numbers endemic in this part of the charitable sector?

ElementaryMyDearWatson · 07/08/2015 15:58

It's certainly true to say that it's not entirely the fault of individual local authorities that they haven't been able to step up to the mark and carry out their statutory duties given the severe extent to which they are underfunded. Nevertheless, they do have those duties and to an extent they have been complicit: instead of coming out into the open and saying it is just impossible to comply with their legal duties on the funding available to them, many have instead chosen simply not to bother to try and have worked on the basis that with any luck, given that they are dealing with incredibly vulnerable people, they will get away with it. As a result of that, they have ended up paying out large amounts in legal fees on the various occasions when they have been taken to court, but have also managed to get away with their failure in far too many cases - and people like children and the disabled have been the losers.

And it is now local authorities whom the government expect to step in to fill the gap left by KC. But no sign of any extra funding for them. Yet again, this government stinks.

BoffinMum · 07/08/2015 15:58

Lurking, in the darkest recesses of my mind I have a feeling I heard something along those lines said at work. It is suddenly sounding very familiar.

BoffinMum · 07/08/2015 15:59

Elementary, I am not sure I agree with you. I think they have been saying this for years but they are slapped down regularly.

peggyundercrackers · 07/08/2015 16:00

sorry she does nothing for me with her TV test card clothes and her aloofness. She is in it for the praise and the self promotion - shes just another left wing luvvie who doesn't like anyone criticising her and of course nothing is her fault - its always the fault of everyone else.

I don't understand why her charity received so much funding when others didn't...