Did the captain Tom foundation charity really use the money to build their own spa pool??

[Terryer]

Just reading the paper this morning and see the family of Captain Tom have been ordered to pull down a building in their garden with a spa pool. I think it's a planning issue but the inference is that they used the money raised to build it. Did they really?

How naive

Did he? I didn't feel cheered up by the old chap walking around his rather large garden (for a photo op) distracting the media away from the actual news. I didn't buy any of it at the time and found it all quite nauseating. I found it odd at the time he was being made out to he some hero, getting a knighthood?? It was all very bizarre, almost like everyone had lost touch with reality!

I voiced a criticism of Captain Tom on here when he was knighted and, metaphorically, that's exactly what happened. The whole thread (I wasn't the OP) ended up being deleted as folk were getting vicious whenever anyone dared say anything about him that wasn't a fawning accolade.

I very much doubt that Hannah intended to let the neighbours use it.

I didn't have a view on Captain Tom one way or another. He seemed like a nice old man trying to do a good thing. I wasn't so keen on the publicity hungry daughter and the media's obsession with him. I certainly wouldn't have taken my elderly and frail father to Barbados at the height of a pandemic knowing that catching covid could kill him. Which it did. But perhaps the lure of the business class flights (which I'm sure were provided free by BA) was too much. I don't know. It wasn't wise and I wouldn't have done it.

I do criticise the BBC because they were relentless in their coverage on Breakfast News, the family, Captain Tom, and all were on every single morning.

Agree with this.

IIRC think it was BBC Breakfast that first picked it up and ran with it. I suspect they were cynically picked as the easiest target by the PR daughter given their long standing practice of highlighting tug-at-the- heartstrings 'human interest' stories.

Set that against the background of constant broadcasts of clapping for the NHS and the propaganda about being kind, looking out for each other and saving lives beamed to a bored nation with nothing to do but watch TV and it's no wonder it took off.

It was a nice story to run with at the time. Especially with all the other relentless shit.

That’s what I mean! Why couldn’t people have their own opinions? Why the collective “love” for him? Didn’t get it and I never will.

It was a nice story to run with at the time. Especially with all the other relentless shit.

It became just as relentless.

This is the deleted thread in case anyone thinks I am being wise after the event!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/coronavirus/4153210-Captain-Sir-Tom

@Dotjones

That's a very strange way of looking at things.

The daughter came across as very game hungry and definitely something about her I didn't like. There was also an Asian old man doing the same thing as Sir captain Tom and he didn't get anywhere as near as the praise. This coming out about the daughter doesn't surprise me in the least.

Sorry for changing the subject slightly. This all reminds me of the circus around the woman (I forget her name) who was constantly hanging around Alan Barnes. The disfigured and disabled pensioner who was attacked outside his home in the north east. She was constantly on TV to be seen as raising money for him. Yet she had to go through the courts as she owed money to a PR agent. The public quickly turned on him for not paying her legal fees and were even making vile comments about his appearance. Easier to side with a 'selfless, caring and pretty single mum' over a 'greedy pensioner'. Kind of got the impression of her being fame hungry like CT daughter. And was using this guy (who she would likely avoid) for her own ends

Well... this is and was the most nauseating thing ever. Daughter taking applause at Wimbledon.

What does council have to do with it?

I've never lived in a council house.
Our home was a new build when we bought it 13 years ago.

DH was brought up in a council house which his mum still lives in, it's a lot bigger than ours.

The whole thing was an obvious grift from the very beginning.

Yes. It was every single morning for about 20 minutes. I found it depressing to be honest.

Yes, a feelgood story on once and then maybe a fortnight later but every morning was coollective hypnotising of the nation. I was sick of seeing the daughters face

It’s funny how all these grifters milk the public in the name of charity. Always be sceptical about these bleeding heart self publicists. So many examples.

There are without doubt crooked.

I live localish to that area. Can’t wait to see them tearing down their spa.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/05/mps-criticise-staggering-failures-uk-health-security-agency

I don't think that the Public Accounts Committee would recommend giving money to the NHS. The accounting is very politicised and opaque - as unsurprisingly almost nobody ever reads the published figures.
If David Cameron had ever got the 'armchair auditors' that he claimed to want, things might look different - or the executives might just think a few moments longer before trying to pull the wool over the taxpayers eyes.

What did she actually do to deserve that applause? The public are as stupid for falling for this.

This sums it up well.

BLM mansions anyone?

or a certain Twitter warrior often spoken about on MN?

These were the same pathetic idiots stood outside their front doors banging pots and pans.

I agree.

But many on here didn't buy into it. Me and my adult DCs used to talk about it in very hushed tones! We suspected something was awry, not in the beginning, but after a while. Of course we couldn't voice that to anyone else, it was kept in the family 😂