to feel uncomfortable about people bidding huge sums of money for Children In Need experiences (Chris Evans this morning)?

[Megainstant]

It made me feel...odd. Or something. To hear people bidding thousands and thousands of pounds to play tennis at the Queens Club. I know all the money goes to charity. I know its a worthwhile cause. But it made me feel strangely uncomfortable and I don't really know why.

[Vango]

You just never know 😉.

Children in Need's accounts are publicly available information. Anyone concerned about 'where the money goes' should have no trouble finding out.

The fact that there's a need for it is shameful. But that's a different argument.

[Carriemac]

you can win the dine a disco place by texting in for a fiver which puts you in a draw.
but dont lets the facts get in the way of a good whinge about the rich

[StarCrossdSkys]

museum you're absolutely right. Don't let the poor people go to Queens.

I hate this too. Rich people don't need to be feted for having a spare £20k to spend on something useless. It's really distasteful, especially when the charity is helping many of the very poorest children.

[Vango]

Wait for the outcry that it's a waste of a fiver because Clive with his £35k worth of tickets is bound to win! 😁

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

I quite like the Chris Evans breakfast show and have no problem with wealthy people flashing their cash and strutting around feeling good about themselves for a good cause. Very few people with a lot of money can bear to keep the fact under their hat - you only have to witness the same old suspects droning on and on and ON about how much money they have on Mumsnet, for instance.

So I have no problem with it at all. We give to three charities by direct debit every month, that's how we like doing it.

BUT it is completely inappropriate to devote entire 3 hour long shows of prime time public service broadcasting to it! Dreadful, cringeworthy and nausea-inducing. I go over to Radio 4 or 5 Live for the duration.

[Vango]

bibbity Children in Need is the BBC's own corporate charity, with several members of staff on the Board of Trustees. It was set up by the BBC. It would be odd if the BBC chose not to publicise it.

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

Yes of course it would be odd if they chose not to publicise it. But there are degrees of publicity aren't there Vango?

[TheWrathFromHighAtopTheThing]

It would be a pretty shit charity that chose not to publicise itself to potential wealthy donors in case it pissed off the less wealthy!

[Vango]

I'm always amazed that it gets so little coverage annually, to be honest, if you compare it to something like Comic Relief (not a BBC charity). I don't watch or listen to much of the build up but I don't feel it's inappropriate.

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

It's not about pissing off the less wealthy but as you clearly can't grasp the more nuanced arguments against it, TheWrath, you go right ahead and comfort yourself with that thought.

[TheWrathFromHighAtopTheThing]

Ah well done bibbity, insult someone who disagrees. Truly the mark of an excellent mind.

[Vango]

I'm finding the argument in favour of a lottery or raffle a bit baffling. Are people arguing that they don't want to donate because there's nothing in it for them? Unlike Clive, who'll get to play tennis with Coldplay Chris because he has more money than most?

Then complaining, in often the same sentence, that it won't mean anything to Clive anyway because he's Rich as Croesus and can hobnob with celebrities anytime he wants to?

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

It is extremely insulting to say that anyone who objects is merely doing so because they are jealous of people with money! Insulting and not terribly intelligent.

[Gingernaut]

There is a 'raffle' of sorts.

A text quiz which costs something like fiver.

Entrants go into a draw and the winner is called one morning.

It's a prize auction for experiences money can't normally buy.

The money goes to a good cause and there's good publicity for the organisations involved.

They've raised 100s of 1000s of pound already.

It's one week a year. We'll survive.

[TheWrathFromHighAtopTheThing]

Mmmm I actually asked a question to see if the OP thought jealousy might be a factor, if you look back.

That's actually not the main thrust of my argument at all, if you care to take a look. I don't think it's jealousy as such, but there's definitely an inverse snobbery at work which is just counter-productive and which displays not very nuanced thinking.

[Vango]

There's something for everyone really. Big ticket items for the more well off, raffles for similar prizes for people less well off, tonnes of fundraising suggestions, collections in banks, building societies and the post office. All equally valuable and vitally important to a charity's operation. Every penny counts.

[OneFlewOverTheDodosNest]

For me it's not the charity part that I find unsettling, it's the thought that society is so unequal that there are people who have £20k to just give away. No need to pay down the mortgage, or save for if the boiler breaks, or put away for a child's future - all those things must surely be covered before you'd bid £20k for nothing, so essentially that means that there are people out there for whom £20k is loose change.

I find that really jarring and I'm managing my mortgage payments each month. God knows how it comes across to people who are worried about paying rent, or who are debating about raising the heating above 15 degrees because they might not have enough left on the meter to last until payday. It feels very disconnected from the reality of a LOT of people's lives.

But hey, at least the people with bucket loads of cash are giving some to charity - I just personally don't enjoy listening to it.

[Megainstant]

I'm really beginning to warm to Clive. He knows he's spending money on nothing. He probably doesn't even like Coldplay. But what the heck, he's getting the bids going and he's happy to donate.

Let's face it, he's got all the comfy slacks he needs, a nice country pile and his pilot's licence. Now he's kicking back and giving back.

[TheWrathFromHighAtopTheThing]

OneFlew I get that sentiment, but what would be solved by those with money stopping their donations? I suspect the people who receive the help at the other end are a) grateful and/or b) thinking the same as you but still glad to have the help.

It's a fact of society that there's imbalance, and a grossly wide gap. Having a charity morning on the radio is really neither here nor there.

[Vango]

That's the real problem with this type of charity fundraising One. It's extreme wealth alongside often extreme poverty that's so unsettling. Most people are disconnected from both.

Mega You're mixing up the Clives.

[Megainstant]

I like both Clives

[JackShit]

I think it's horribly crass, but happy to admit I am very jealous. The bid amounts are more than I make in a year!

[OneFlewOverTheDodosNest]

Well exactly Wrath - nothing would be solved by not running the charity, but I think that's why it makes bad radio.

The average UK pre-tax income is £27k which means there's a whole lot more people like me, feeling uncomfortable that someone's spending my entire annual salary to meet Coldplay than there are people like Clive, who may be entirely lovely, but is still more fortunate than 99% of the population.

The contrast between the two is disconcerting and makes me and probably plenty of others turn over the radio - but if it raises a lot of money for CiN maybe the BBC don't mind slightly lower listening figures for a week.

[Vango]

I agree that the Auction itself is irrelevant to, and beyond the means of the majority of listeners but on balance it clearly works as a fundraiser. If it had any noticeable impact on the listening figures I'm sure it would have been pulled by now (it's been going for years) so it probably doesn't upset too many people.

[QuizteamBleakley]

I wonder if Clive is married. My SiL is single and loves Coldplay. Mind you, she's pretty bad at tennis.