Captain Tom's daughter

[Sneezeless]

Who would have thought it?

What sort of mug organisation pays £18k to get an appearance by such a no-mark?

Corporates are very keen on CSR these days and I would imagine the expectation was that most if not all was going to the foundation

The worst thing about all this is how the media enabled her to get so far with her con. Utter madness.

Me too, utterly nauseating.
The who thing smacked of self-interest and exploitation from the start and I reckon Capt. Tom was fully invested.
The whole sickening thing is that so many people were sucked into donating while H I-G was probably rubbing her hands together in glee. It’s very noticeable how her sister stayed right out of the limelight while the children were dragged in to boost the coffers.
The Barbados holiday was a freebie after apparently it appeared on Capt. Tom’s so-called bucket list.
The Ingram-Moores were on the grab from the very start.

It bothers me that so many posters are worried about their donations being misspent on things like staff and the cookie jar.

Private donations are the lifeline of so many charities. They come without the strings ( and sometimes extra costs) that can be attached to corporate donations and grants.

💯

This is a shit newspaper and an apology should always be made when a link is given to it.

Pure greed. They’ve utterly disgraced their father.

Seems like he had good intentions, raised a bucketload for the NHS, and the family saw pound signs and cashed in.

I don’t think anyone would have cared if they’d openly taken a cut from the book or whatever, but they’ve acted with pure greed and contempt of the charity commission and everyone who donated/bought a book. Pure selfish greed.

Charities cannot do the good work they do without paying staff - including boring admin roles, cleaners, and senior executives. You can’t fundraising and manage millions without well trained senior staff who deserve decent wages and adequate remuneration (I don’t mean £100k+)

It's just arrogant rich people. It's the norm for them to do stuff like this ...probably didn't even think it was wrong because everyone else in their circle does dodgy stuff like this too.

Exactly!

It’s all very well being critical, but most of us couldn’t provide the skilled support that charities provide in times of need.

Large charities haven't had my money for some time I'm afraid - I prefer to give locally. Yes, I know there is probably even less accountability with smaller ones - they could go straight to the pub with it - but my experience has always been that someone who devotes 24 hours a day to hedgehogs uses the money to help hedgehogs.

Charity shops who have staff that don't say thank you and moan about the donation being too late in the day or storage space for your donation don't get repeat visits from me. Those that are genuinely grateful get loads of stuff in the future.

And gurning Z-listers on telethons who think riding a child's bike is somehow deserving of donations can fuck right off. Give your own cash or lobby the government to actually pay for some services.

And one final one - charities need to stop taking everything over. Want to wear a Christmas jumper? You must be sponsored or you are a kitten killing scrooge. Want to eat sensibly after Christmas? Join our charity programme or its the the metaphorical Gulag for you. Sod off and leave us alone.

There's a good podcast on BBC Sounds about the whole debacle, from start to finish

I think donating to charity shops has less to do with donating to charity and more to do with responsible reuse and recycling.

I donate because I feel bad chucking good stuff into landfill and am happy for someone to benefit. When deciding where to donate, I tend to consider how easy it is to make the donation above the actual cause.

Anyone remember Camila Batmanghelidjh? this is not an isolated case

Only too well, @mummymeister - another one where some allowed themselves to be dazzled by her incessantly used "at street level", overall persona and pretence of a unique understanding

There were plenty of warning signs there too, not least in her ridiculous stories and when she lied about being a psychiatrist on her Companies House listing, but as so often brains fell out and on she went

She just felt “off” from her very first, really pushy, TV appearance. Shameless.

I am shocked by all of this and had no idea about any of it! It's completely passed me by. Not Captain Tom's walking of course (we all saw that) but I don't recall ever seeing the daughter at that time. I do recall hearing about his trip to Barbados and thinking, hmmm... seems unwise and in bad taste.

It really intrigues me though, there's something horribly fascinating about her and how she's justifying all this to herself (and does she really believe what she says?). It reminds me of the foundations run by the Gates, Clooneys, Sussexes, Oprah etc, which appear to be a convenient way of raking in a humungous salary whilst appearing benevolent. I wonder how many of those people believe their own narrative about themselves. ("I am doing good, I therefore deserve this lifestyle").

I can see this being made into a drama, possibly written by James Graham and starring Olivia Coleman as the daughter. I know it's a real life and very sad situation but it's also a fascinating study into human behaviour (well some humans). Reminds me a bit of the coughing major on Who Wants to be a Millionaire which became the show Quiz. One just can't fathom how someone can think they will get away with this stuff, or have the brass neck to try it!

I've always been dubious about large corporate style charities. I tend to donate to local ones where I can actually see the results of the donations.

It's a shame some do put people off though. It has gotten worse with Just Giving etc where people ask for help when there is no real hardship.

I hated the Captain Tom thing. Nothing against the man, but the family did seem like very privileged people of a certain type (they seemed like people who would claim and claim on expenses if they were a politician) and I did feel there was something about them that wasn't genuine. I just think some people have no self awareness and can't see an issue if they think the law is behind their grabby actions and have been advised it is 'legitimate', even though to most it is morally bankrupt.

I don't think it's fair to compare Captain Tom's daughter to Camila Batmanghelidjh.

Baamghelidjh, for all her flaws, did care about children and dedicated decades to her cause. Her problem was that she didn't have the skills or experience to run a charity of that size. She was subsequently exonerated of any wrongdoing.

Captain Tom's daughter was just a grifter.

Sadly it is not uncommon for charities to be set up and donations to be misappropriated. I was involved with a dog rescue where it emerged that the founder and her family had been taking money to buy expensive luxury goods for themselves including cars and a Rolex watch. I had helped raised that money and transported dogs, it was just awful.

I think there needs to be much stricter regulation.

All newspapers are shit. We are arguing over which is the best turd here.

A lot of charities set up by very wealthy people are done for the tax breaks unfortunately (especially in US)

She says her Dad told her to keep the book deal money. Still, she shouldn't have kept it all, given her Dad had said charity would benefit.

Her actions have been incredibly dubious, however she hasn't committed any crime. I think the response and all the hate being directed towards her (and she's getting the worst of it, her husband is getting a fraction) is completely over the top.

Would H I-M have gone full on Wendy from Ozark if she had the chance?

To be honest, I think that it's daft to draw a line between small charities and large charities. You might as well flip a coin to know how well your money will be spent.

Unless you REALLY know your stuff (and as evidenced by this thread, people don't!), you're operating on trust either way.

What I would advise is that if you're unwilling to trust charities, don't cherry pick or second guess who are the good ones. Instead, funnel your money into ethical purchasing.

I work for charities, and I don't donate at all. I try to spend my money in line with my ethical principles wherever possible though. Because if all consumerist and commercial ventures were run ethically, we probably wouldn't need charities at all.