A version of this article was first published in International Tax Review Bongo players, Robin Hood, men dressed as drag dinner ladies and Mrs Doyle from Father Ted proclaiming the only tea she does not like is poverty greeted activists as they filed into Westminster Central Hall to lobby their MPs. But behind the fun [...]
When explaining the Conservative vision of the ‘Big Society’ to the public, Cameron and co. have always emphasised the role to be played by the voluntary sector (after all, most people would agree that charities are generally a good thing). The state, they claim, often ‘crowds out’ other non-government organisations that are better suited to the task of [...]
About this time last year I wrote a long and slightly rambling piece on the ethics of wearing poppies, and while this is a post on the same topic, I’m going to do my best not to repeat myself too much. Rather than focus on the relative merits of red and white poppies and what [...]
From Jews for Justice for Palestinians. For updates go to the Jewish Boat to Gaza website. At crisis point in peace talks, Jews, Israelis call to lift the siege on Gaza, end the occupation. A boat carrying aid for Gaza’s population and organized by Jewish groups worldwide has set ,sail from Cyprus today at 13:32 [...]
Guest post by Carl Packman One month ago I argued that there were certain instances where charity giving was both a way of disavowing the feeling of guilt, and that it operated like a business, trying to drive out other competition. I argued that though this was the case, it is surely better to have [...]
The Haiti appeal song ‘Everybody Hurts’ is now the number one in the UK charts, and doubtless will be for a few more weeks at least, because that’s how number ones work now. So given that this is the most bought piece of music at the moment, I thought I’d give it a listen, along [...]
‘Tis the season for rampant consumerism, and given that I live within spitting distance of the new Westfield shopping centre in London – a place where people actually put on their ‘Sunday Best’ to worship at the temple of ‘fashion’ – I have more than my fair 12 days share of festive reminders. I’m not [...]
“…how can you be so short-sighted to look never further than this week or next week, to have no impossible dream?” – Che Guevara in Evita September 11th. It’s a date that conjures up memories and few of them good. It was, after all, the historic day that Salvador Allende fell to the 1973 CIA [...]
For a long time now, I have been meaning to sit down and have a long and proper look at the money I give to charity. Alas, a lack full-time permanent employment has been a steady defence of my inability to act upon this until this now. This can’t go on indefinitely – its time to make some decisions. But there are a lot of tricky questions to consider.
I keep getting hassled by chuggers. I don’t really mind, I have to admit, though I can never afford to sign up for a direct debit to a charity, but it has got me thinking about the left. Every single chugger I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks has tried to sell me their [...]
