to be put off by the amount of money spent to make programs for comedy relief?

[purplemonkeydishwasher]

Surely they could just put that money to good use here and abroad.

AND I'm absolutely DISGUSTED by the gluttony and drunkeness in the Fame Academy house. they are doing this for STARVING people. Get a grip on reality.

DC I am agreeing with you bloody hell!Corporate care?Of course it doesn't exist but it doesn't need to when there are individuals willing to do it for them FWIW I thought CR was quality tv for once and I think this has been reflected in the amount raised.Very difficuly to do charidee without someone humbugging it but better to try than do nothing

I think that Comic Relief is brilliant. Not perfect, but still brilliant.

Who cares if the celebrities motive is partly (or even mainly) selfish? They could use their selfishness in many less helpful ways than raising awareness and money for less fortunate people here and abroad.

There are far worse hypocrisies than this.

So, the programming costs money, I'd still rather that at least one evening of expensive programming is aimed at helping others. There are plenty of t.v shows that are expensive and are created around NOTHING but ego and making (completely talentless) people famous and rich. But because Comic Relief might aid a celebrity's desire for anonymity through a positive contribution to the world we should criticise?

I don't understand this view at all.

meant "desire for fame", of course

We have become a society who have to politicise everything!We can never just accept anything even if it is mainly for the good!I am as quick as the next person to challenge hypocrisy etc blah blah but fgs can't we just accept some things at face value and not question them into the ground

but these programmes are cheap that is one reason why there are so many..it is tasteful period dramas filmed on location and with big stars and written by andrew davies which are expensive surely

Gosh, what next? We shouldn't do the Macmillan Coffee morning, because it adds to the coffers of the coffee industry?

In reality you need big money if you want to do lots of stuff. If you were to try to equal the money raised by RND by having jumble sales you'd be there for ever.

I went round traying to collect money for Marie Curie no so long ago. in 4 hours I raised £16. This year I just sent them a donation.

Maybe zippi, but Comic Relief is worth actually watching because many of the participating celebrities have REAL talent, and you have the opportunity to give a wee bit of money to a good cause.

I would rather watch CR than Big Brother (whether or not it is cheaper) any day.

And if an expensive, well written period drama launched an appeal to raise money for charity I would probably thank god that some decent telly was on and then give some money to the charity.

Giving money to charity needn't be an exercise in puritanism.

ahem I'm agreeing with you rantum I think

or that was the idea anyway.....

and isn't it a little unrealistic to expect people to spend their time for utterly altruistic reasons?

Isn't all charity work founded, at least in part, on the nice feeling that doing 'good deeds' gives you? Hand on heart I would have to say I like the 'warm fuzzy' I get from helping out with stuff.

Should I stop, since doing stuff for charity is obviously helping me to a degree.

sorry zippi - did wonder if i was misreading your post, but stormed ahead anyway - forgive me?

Yeah, agree there Martian. You've gotta love that fuzzy feeling - and if it helps someone else, who cares if it also makes me feel like a slightly more "worthy" person, right?

and I should say that andrew davies is absolutely lovely in case my post suggested anything else..I do actually know him and his wife slightly

Yes, I must stop running a macmillan coffee morning for my sixth form and go sit on a spike instead! Afterall, they might like me for being a nice person and that might make them behave more in class, and they will do better in the exams and that will benefit my career!

So I am blatently 'using' the sufferening of cancer patients to promote my own flagging career as a science teacher

zippi, I'm impressed!

well they live nearby and i did a part time art degree with his wife..quite cutting edge art actually she is quite political feminist very interesting and Italian classes with both of them

Also, don't forget that they are Celebs because they are world class at getting their message across.
Usually of course the message is "shopping" or "farts are funny"
But the Ant n Dec pieces were masterpieces of emotional manipulation, I am thankful such talent is not the hands of some political or relgious group.
But that is the point isn't it ?
Charity is a form of politics, which is why the hard of thinking don't like it. They tend to cluster on the left who think that all spending should be "democratic", ie by the government.

Comic Relief is a very small % of the money Britain spends on making the world a less shit place. But they don't spend it the same way as the government, or in ways they approve of, which is a useful annoyance.

you're talking a lot of sense, DC.

dominiconnor....you are so wrong re my reading habits...gag..i cant abide the guardian..it makes me wanna puke...

I agree totally, me and my dh were discussing this last night while watcing Comic Relief. And also there were a few jokes in Comic Relief by a few comedians that i think shouldnt have been said as it might have offended some viewers.

I agree totally, me and my dh were discussing this last night while watching Comic Relief. And also there were a few jokes in Comic Relief by a few comedians that i think shouldnt have been said as it might have offended some viewers.

dominiconnor..your comments are mad!

how much has UK spent on iraqi war? it sure did make it better place for the 650,000 dead didn't it....aid is given with conditions, caveats etc...

its nice you all want the fuzzy warm glow from helping those less well off etc without thinking WHY they are...

enjoy your sweatshop made clothes; cheap supermarket food that puts farmers out of business...

i dont think you guys read the posts tbh..

I apologise Suzicream, not only do you not read the Guardian you don't even read the posts you respond to.

To put it more simply for your benefit, my point was that charities often spend the money more efficiently the governments, and certainly in ways the government would not.
Yes, aid is often a bad thing, because the British government tries to acheive too much. The idea is to both help the recipient, as well as buying votes at home. Hence the senseless building of dams in shit countries, radars that don't work, and of course the laughable insanity of buying British figher jets.

That being said a major cause of the problems with shit countries is the way they "run" themselves. It would be mad to give money to their so-called governments without trying to stop them using it all to buy new cars, and villas in France.

I don't accept the 650,000 number of dead in Iraq, indeed I don't believe any number that is cited simply because every single source of numbers I've seen has proven themselves dishonestly stupid.

Comic relief is not in a position to alter British strategy in Iraq. Trust me on this. They can't redraw the borders of African countries more rationally, and they lack the capbility of killing the 2-300 people you need to be rid of in Zimbabwe.
So should they just give up ?

I really enjoyed comic relief, it was not only hysterically funny but extremly educational as some of the footage of others lives helped many to relise the importance of the work this Charity does. What if Comic relief did not happen? So what some celebs got a little exposure, these people would not be celebs if the public did not want to watch them in the first place which is great for Comic relief. I hope many are helped by the money I donated and many others....It may not end poverty, abuse or AIDS but atleast it can help. I will definetly be buying the Peter Kaye and Matt Lucas album on Monday.