Captain Tom

[roxfox]

To be super fed up of hearing about him?

It's not his fault but the media etc seem to be using him to distract us from more important things. He's featured on the news more times than I can count. He received over 125,000 birthday cards - he can't possibly read even a quarter of them, what a waste of money and paper. And poor Royal Mail having to get it all to him.

There's not one day we don't here about him and now he's getting a plane or something flown over his house. The 28million he's raised is stupid money too - yes great for these NHS 'charities' but goodness, they are all on full pay! What about the food banks and million other things we could've all supported.

We've gotten so used to hearing Rishi throw money around I think we've forgotten how much money that is.

Is it just me? I feel awful. I know he's a lovely old man who's served his country all his life and will probably die very happy and yes we all need some lighthearted news but ffs all he did was walk around the garden.

I think he's amazing and it's a welcome relief to hear something cheerful in these difficult times when all you hear is depressing news. It's a remarkable achievement.

I think he is marvellous however I wish the money could be distributed to a variety of deserving causes as I don’t think he realised where his money would actually go to.

NHS charities doesn't mean the money goes directly to staff to lift them out of poverty, so not sure if the relevance that they are not using foodbanks. There isn't much going on aside from Covid at the moment, what other positive news is there? Assuming he is happy with everything, YABU. Just turn the telly over or dont read it. I can't find it within myself to get annoyed about a 99 year old getting to experience some nice things because he raised a lot of money for charity.

I don’t think he realised where his money would actually go to
.
I am guessing the name NHS charities might have given it away to him. Do we hate the NHS again already? That didn't take long.

Cant believe you've taken the time to whinge about this. Take a look at the shit government we have, that's definitely worth whinging about.

The mural of him is something else.
www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/04/28/new-mural-to-immortalise-captain-tom-moores-nhs-fundraising-efforts/

What he did was a lovely thing to do, but so much has been projected on to him. It's an example of a strange phenomenon that rears up now and again.

The whole think is fucking ridiculous and had turned into mass hysteria. I wonder where the cash will really go? All this hysteria is distracting most of us from the shitshow the government have turned this crisis into.

Nearly £30m now - just wait for the fanfare when the funds raised hit that

British people really hate success and positivity.

Old man makes tons of cash to help people and somehow that's a bad thing.

If you don't want to see him, switch off your TV, you're not forced to watch it.

What a bunch of miseries on here! He has done a wonderful thing raising money by doing something that is not easy for him personally and that money will make a difference to the lives of others that otherwise would not have benefitted from it. And we are not meant to applaud him for that? We shouldn’t be grateful and proud of someone for raising money for charity because it’s not a charity that you would have chosen or you don’t think it’s a worthy enough cause? Take a look at yourselves

I agree with you OP.

YABVU and a right grump

Can a few more people come on the thread to remind us the NHS is not a charity please? WE KNOW.

I love what he's done, but he shouldn't have had to have done it.
Unfortunately I think It's inevitable that he got the reception he has, which he totally deserves. But I know what you mean.
I like to think he is the sort who will read all the cards though. However long it takes.

Thank you for saying this, I was not brave enough. The high amounts raised are largely because our media, which seems to control this country, have decided he is worthy of celebrity status. I expect if he was a couple of years younger and an retired care worker rather than a captain he would not have recieved such an endorsement.

I agree with your sentiments and that this has been blown out of proportion as a distraction from government failings. Still, good on him, both for what he’s done and for making it to 100. I can imagine that making him a card would be a nice thing for a child to do, whether or not he reads them. Hope the money goes to worthy charitable causes and helps people.

I'm really looking forward to the flypast tomorrow (and it'll probably be dusty in here when it's happening)

Especially as when the Dept of Transport cancelled the first plans for a single Spitfire on the grounds of 'non essential travel', the RAF stepped in, said they are not subject to the same rules and arranged for the whole Battle of Britain flight to do it.

Sometimes we need a national rallying point. Especially as VE Day 75 commemorations are off

I agree, op. His daughter seems very PR savvy too. It’s all a bit in the Brexit-y bracket and saccharine for me - but good luck to him.

Sometimes we need a national rallying point.

No, we don’t.

Some people really must be at a loss for something to moan about. For many people it’s been a little spark of good news amidst all the gloom. Of course the number of cards is crazy, and yes, that money could have gone to charity, but so could the cost of whatever non-essentials anyone bought recently. (in my case, 2 bars of Fruit and Nut 🐷)

What’s the problem with understanding NHS charities, anyway? Many if not most hospitals have their own fundraisers in order to buy extras that normal funds won’t run to. My local hospital raised money to buy a hugely expensive scanner - whether it should have been provided via govt.funds is a separate issue.

At the other end of the scale, the paediatric intensive care unit in a different hospital, where my baby grandson was so well cared for 3 times when he had severe bronchiolitis, wanted little extras such as toys and mobiles, in order to make their little patients’ time there more pleasant.

YANBU. He’s done a lovely thing but it’s time to leave him be now. He should not be the focus of this crisis and is being used as a distraction to satisfy the types of people who used to unwittingly share Britain First memes when we didn’t know they were a far right group and call the army ‘Our Boys’.

The faces of this crisis should be the key workers who will never see 100 due to government negligence.

"I love what he's done, but he shouldn't have had to have done"

But meanwhile, in the real world, we will always need to raise money for charity.

I barely know who this guy is. I don't watch TV and I flick through about 10 minutes of news every day. If something annoys you so much, why engage with it? You could use your energy for literally anything else.

What a load of misery guts.

This is one of the times when I'm glad thatnMN nearly,always represents the polar opposite of the RL mood.

I don't think anyone is dim enough to forget the dreadful,human cost of the pandemic, not that it will blight many years tomcime with Global Depression, because occasionally there is a celebration of a different spirit, of doing your bit, of our strengths and national idiosyncrasies

I totally agree with you and felt that way from the start but kept to myself because everyone was caught up in it, it would come across as so uncharitable!

The reality is that it's not him who set up the page, made arrangement etc... What he did is walk. This was likely a great achievement for him so good on him to push himself, but quite a few people is age are able to do much more just as younger people would have had to push themselves even more to achieve what he did.

It only became what it did because of the timing and media grabbing the story. He is just a normal older man like many in care homes. His achievement is personal which is fantastic but he is not a legend, hero or anything else he has been labeled as.

Yep. It's great that he had the idea to raise money, but it's his family's business, PR and social media background, and the media itself that turned it into a vast amount of money.

I'm sure he's lovely and I'm not critical of him remotely, but the whole thing has become sentimental and cloying, (and more than a little patronising). I posted at the beginning that I'm sure such a strong military man is not appreciating all these people calling him sweet, and going"awww" over him.