To think many fell for the Captain Tom scam

[Binjob118]

I never understood all the fuss about Captain Tom. A rich old man walked around his garden and was lauded as a hero. Family then go on freebie holiday to Barbados whilst rest of us were locked down for Christmas. Then it turns out he was part of family scam to pay the family from book proceeds. No wonder so many people in this country are targeted by scammers, we are a gullible lot.

Yup. Pretty poor for a 99 year old to slag off his late first wife and take no responsibility himself.

What a well reasoned and articulate argument.

They ALL came across as a very unpleasant, greedy family. I was utterly baffled at the hype and found it embarrassing. All because he was in the army half a century ago, so he must be 'a hero'. How gullible British people are!

I didn’t give money to his appeal and partly because my grandad (lovely though he was) could spin a nice yarn so I’ve never considered all old people of a certain class and colour to be upstanding members of public.

More fool anyone believing the hype.

I was never interested in poxy Captain Tom. I thought he was a soppy old duffer

Didn't he cheat on his wife?

Him no issue with or what he raised as the charity got their money. Thereafter, the daughter and the spa and paying herself and the rest I absolutey have an issue with.

I’m an NHS nurse and the hospital where I worked was given iPads so the patients could FaceTime their families, the money came from NHS Together. That was a good thing.

The daughter is as shady af, but I don’t think the old man was in on the scam. However he obviously thoroughly enjoyed his time in the spotlight. His comments about his first wife were unpleasant and that says a lot about what kind of man he was.

The whole thing was so ridiculous.

What I don't understand (and admittedly my knowledge of this area is a bit basic) was why everyone was so happy to donate to nebulous "NHS charities" but so few are OK with having any taxes raised?

I didn’t donate but then I didn’t clap etc either, however I do think what he raised was amazing. I think it was a bit off because people didn’t understand where the money was going. I think the subsequent stuff was all bollocks, his knighthood and then all the shit his daughter has been doing.

Old bloke, whether he was a tosser or not, raised lots of money and that action in itself was great. But that’s where it should have ended. We didn’t need the charity single or knighthood or cartoons with him holding Paddingtons hand or whatever.
The book writing was fine because that’s up to him and the book said he wanted to raise more charitable funds, I don’t believe the rubbish his slimy daughter is saying.

They need to disappear into the ether now.

@JohnPrescottsPyjamas I know there was a thorough rigidity of belief during the height of it all, especially on here and I was equally appalled at the way people chose to speak to and about those whose beliefs differed from their own. I'm a big fan of reasoned, measured debate on all sides and generally prefer to avoid rabid ad hominem attacks.

I also don't do schmaltz!

Regardless of what happened later with his grifter family and the charity they set up bit gross to break down a man who raised tens of millions for NHS charities - what have you done op?

Because donating is a one-off personal choice, presumably?

@PotandKettle absolutely how I feel. The press and Tory's know full well that many Brits love a bit of schmaltz and link it in with being a veteran and being old- and it's a great distraction

My god. This is awful.

Yeah, you are right. I just felt sort of uncomfortable when celebrities (so mostly high earners) were all absolutely fine publicly donating to this man but there is normally such a backlash to even very small increases to taxes for higher earners.

When we rely on charities to plug the gaps of statutory services, we are relying on the personal choices of those who can afford to donate. I can imagine charities for less palatable services such as addiction support, or prisoner support for example must have to work so hard to get the donations that other charities do.

But it was published by the professional PR person the family employed before he started fundraising.

His other daughter has always distanced herself.

I know this is mandatory MN "everything British is shit" but what a ridiculous thing to say. European countries are stashed full of ordinary people being made actual Saints for spurious reasons, and you want to blame British culture?🙄

He was nice, doing his bit. The pushy daughter was the problem from the off.

I was completely unmoved by Captain Tom and by his passing. The whole thing including the song with Michael Ball was bloody weird.

He wasn't in on It. Was just his family

They did a song???

Same here. He appeared on Blankety Blank. Maybe liked the limelight. I heard a rumour of a super injunction

Yeah the Michael Ball thing was weird.