Charities? Bah, humbug.

Countryside Column for 19 December

Charitable giving – a bit of a jolly?

It may be the season to be jolly, but it’s also the time we think about those who can’t afford to stuff their faces with unnecessary calories nor accumulate things they neither need nor want. Certainly the charities are busy promoting appeals, and playing on our guilt or goodwill or a combination of both.

But, for various reasons, charitable giving makes me slightly uncomfortable.  First, the invidious choices. How to differentiate among so many good causes? And how is it that certain organisations get to the top of the visibility tree. 

I have no doubt that St-Martin-in-the-Fields is a terrific organisation and that its Christmas Appeal does a huge amount to alleviate hardship.  But just why is this particular campaign supported so assiduously by our national broadcaster?  The BBC wouldn’t dream of concentrating on one political cause at the expense of others. It would contravene charter obligations. So why does Radio 4 promote St Martin’s rather than, say, the Salvation Army which I’m sure does equally excellent work among the homeless and hungry. 

Annually, we suffer the embarrassment of celebrities making asses of themselves for Children in Need. Every week a new ‘good cause’ is featured on the airwaves. But what about all the other equally worthy appeals that don’t get this free advertising?

Then there’s the question of ‘personal choice’. It seems a given that we should do what we want with our money. And if that means animal sanctuaries over starving children, then that’s OK? Well not for me. In a civilised country neither--and certainly not the latter--should need charitable aid. It’s the job of society (‘the state’) to ensure that children are not starving or abused. And that medical research into childhood disease is adequately funded. Better, surely, to pay a penny or two extra on our taxes and obviate the need to subscribe to charity? Or for all our charitable giving to be put in a pot and distributed according to some rational criteria rather than lachrymose images.

In villages such as mine rural poverty is often hidden. But what to do when you are confronted by homeless people? Does your pound in the ‘begging bowl’ disincentivise? Preferable, perhaps, to support the busker or street artist or Big Issue seller who is offering something back?

There are no easy answers. Now, lest you dub me Scrooge, I suppose I’d better look out my chequebook!