Well, hate is too strong a word. I hated Live Aid and Band Aid because they were music based and encouraged hypocrisy, smugness and - worst of all - bad music elbowing good music off the airwaves and out of the chart like an ugly great Irish cuckoo.

As well as elbowing genuinely organised cash away from the truly needy and into the pockets of corrupt officials. By harnessing media attention, they killed people.

Donations disappeared to Oxfam, Save the Children and better organised, essential charities. And beaming minor celebrities benefitted from increased sales and an image boost.

Comic and Sports Relief and other media events may indeed raise money not normally given but they also encourage second rate entertainment in the name of "a good cause". So I avoid it.

Not always, of course. I thought the mosquito film was fantastic. But most is rubbish. Time to watch a DVD, go to iPlayer (Dan Snow on Syria is worth catching up on), or visit the theatre.

agree, but never seen a ugly great Irish cuckoo except maybe Sir Bob... hypocrite and down right nasty pleb.

The organisers of Band aid had no way of knowing the money would fall into corrupt hands and many charities still face the same problem, but it was outrageous for Geldof to put his own faded band and those of his friends on the stage. Far bigger bands were edged out, but sometimes people get carried away with a bit of power, and I believe that they meant well.

I loathe comic relief too. There seems no rhyme or reason to who is given the money,and all too often donations are given with stipulations that do more harm than good and increase the work load for volunteers.
Even worse, the sketches are not even slightly funny.

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
There seems no rhyme or reason to who is given the money.


Agree entirely ... when I said a few months ago that some of these "charities" were very spurious "causes" - I was shot down in flames !

But ... the gullible will fall for it.

There will always be poverty in Africa so why bother donating good money it won't make slight it of difference ?

Too much char-idy is a bad thing.

Every night ads come on, for save the children, save the starving in Africa & various other places where people, are to backward to help themselves, Cancer charities, money for the blind, money for the deaf, money for the mentally challenged, money for the handicapped, help the aged etc.

By the time, I'd of given to all those, then I'd also need a handout. So, how about a charity for those, that have gone skint giving to charity?

We'll call it "The Help Yourself Day". Benefit cheats & compensation cheats not welcome, of course!

And on Comic Relief, do we really want to see Jessie J (nee Cornish), shave her awful dyed hair off? I think not. Any chavvy shite of society could do that. Mind you I might pay to see Adele do it...Hilarious thinking about it!

In The Know wrote:
honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
There seems no rhyme or reason to who is given the money.


Agree entirely ... when I said a few months ago that some of these "charities" were very spurious "causes" - I was shot down in flames !

But ... the gullible will fall for it.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2293620...ng-ahead-Budget.html

Sounds good to me bh, I don't understand people mentality about the mentally challenged.

I'm actually capable of ignoring most of it without it making me feel the world has gone mad, let alone any sense that I'm stuck on top of Mount Olympus with my superior principles. Sorry about that. I know such self-righteous censoriousness is de rigueur on here, when one is not saying how great avocados or all young people are (except for the young people, or even avocados, who like these sorts of events, I guess). But I do find the conceptual wooziness of these 'Relief' events quite odd. Take Comic Relief, for example: much of it isn't comic, but is obsessed with very serious physical challenges and sporting achievements. Whereas Sport Relief doesn't seem THAT interested in sport but features lots of so-called 'comic' events and sundry acts of 'zaniness'. So it's all curiously confused. At the very least, one should expect a bit of a focus.

hedda wrote:
agree, but never seen a ugly great Irish cuckoo except maybe Sir Bob... hypocrite and down right nasty pleb.

If Sir Bob had the same attitude to self publicity as some others he could rightfully be referred to as Saint Bob.

If their is ever a list of the all time most influential men in the music industry he will be in the Top 10. Not everyone likes him but he gets things done and is one very intelligent person. As well as his own achievements he had a direct influence on many other charity drives and the staging of Live Aid was the spark for more stadium gigs and stadium tours.

It would be great if all people quietly and anonymously gave a percentage of their earnings to charitable causes, they don't and Bob recognized that and wasn't scared to do whatever was needed to get mass attention to his cause. If there was a fault it was because he was too good at what he did.

And something else I'll bet (won't know as I shall not be watching) - there will be several SOUND mistakes; mics not on; bad balance; silences - the world of sound recording seems to have collapsed over the past ten years. Nobody seems to care anymore; nobody properly trained.

Blue Boy wrote:
hedda wrote:
agree, but never seen a ugly great Irish cuckoo except maybe Sir Bob... hypocrite and down right nasty pleb.

If Sir Bob had the same attitude to self publicity as some others he could rightfully be referred to as Saint Bob.
If there was a fault it was because he was too good at what he did.

he was certainly good at crucifying Michael Hutchence who was a decent bloke and then took Michael's daughter away from her grandparents and prevented them from seeing her. They both died heartbroken.

I knew the family... I was with Michael the night before he died...let him be listed amongst the 'top ten'...doesn't change his treatment of the Hutchence family. He's a vindictive character and although I've never met him nor want to, most who have who I know say similar.

Wagner made nice music as well.

hedda wrote:
I was with Michael the night before he died.

Well you should have hung him up properly then.

Seriously you people are effing hypocrites and should get over yourselves.
Regardless of its shortcomings Band Aid, Live Aid, Comic Relief etc do a lot
of good and they are entertaining in their own right. If you want to argue
about the moral issues behind them then why not start with your own household
and sell you big overblown fancy cars and trappings of riches and give the money
to the poor. Of course you can't, won't are unable to etc.
I am getting fed up of your routine bashing of Bob Geldof and other charity efforts
whilst your darling protege gets no such lambastings when he does something for
charity whilst self promoting at the same time. Get over yourselves the lot of you.

hedda wrote:
[b]
he was certainly good at crucifying Michael Hutchence who was a decent bloke and then took Michael's daughter away from her grandparents and prevented them from seeing her. They both died heartbroken.

I knew the family... I was with Michael the night before he died...let him be listed amongst the 'top ten'...doesn't change his treatment of the Hutchence family. He's a vindictive character and although I've never met him nor want to, most who have who I know say similar.

Wagner made nice music as well.

I agree with you that Geldof is far from perfect but I doubt if anyone who is active in so many fields don't have some character flaws.

The way he handled the Hutchenc/Yates situation is probably something that he regrets very much but he can't turn back time. Anyone who has been through a relationship which ended because of another person being involved with your partner will understand that emotions run very high. Add to that the rock star lifestyle and the custody battles over the children and lots of mistakes are going to be made.

hedda wrote:
Blue Boy wrote:
hedda wrote:
agree, but never seen a ugly great Irish cuckoo except maybe Sir Bob... hypocrite and down right nasty pleb.

If Sir Bob had the same attitude to self publicity as some others he could rightfully be referred to as Saint Bob.
If there was a fault it was because he was too good at what he did.

he was certainly good at crucifying Michael Hutchence who was a decent bloke and then took Michael's daughter away from her grandparents and prevented them from seeing her. They both died heartbroken.

I knew the family... I was with Michael the night before he died...let him be listed amongst the 'top ten'...doesn't change his treatment of the Hutchence family. He's a vindictive character and although I've never met him nor want to, most who have who I know say similar.

Wagner made nice music as well.

Hedda, do you think it was suicide? I thought the circumstances were very odd.

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
hedda wrote:
Blue Boy wrote:
hedda wrote:
agree, but never seen a ugly great Irish cuckoo except maybe Sir Bob... hypocrite and down right nasty pleb.

If Sir Bob had the same attitude to self publicity as some others he could rightfully be referred to as Saint Bob.
If there was a fault it was because he was too good at what he did.

he was certainly good at crucifying Michael Hutchence who was a decent bloke and then took Michael's daughter away from her grandparents and prevented them from seeing her. They both died heartbroken.

I knew the family... I was with Michael the night before he died...let him be listed amongst the 'top ten'...doesn't change his treatment of the Hutchence family. He's a vindictive character and although I've never met him nor want to, most who have who I know say similar.

Wagner made nice music as well.

Hedda, do you think it was suicide? I thought the circumstances were very odd.

he was in good spirits in the bar and a bunch of us where having a drink. He went to his room with a couple of pals who may have had some cocaine...but the problem was he was also taking anti-depressants so mixing alcohol and coke was dangerous...and then he had a few tearful phone calls with Paula...but I think it was a case of auto-erotic asphyxiation and he just passed out and that was it. Dangerous behaviour.

One of the hotel security guards tried to sell some pics of the body but no-one bought them...someone who saw one said Michael was sort of slumped on his knees and had tied a ligature around a hook on the door....so who knows!!!

Hutchence left about $30M and I still don't think they have unravelled the financial maze.

JK2006 wrote:
And something else I'll bet (won't know as I shall not be watching) - there will be several SOUND mistakes; mics not on; bad balance; silences - the world of sound recording seems to have collapsed over the past ten years. Nobody seems to care anymore; nobody properly trained.

Theres plenty of properly trained sound engineers out there, sadly the BBC wants cheap and so they effectively get the monkeys.

Quit your jibber jabber wrote:
Seriously you people are effing hypocrites and should get over yourselves.
Regardless of its shortcomings Band Aid, Live Aid, Comic Relief etc do a lot
of good and they are entertaining in their own right. If you want to argue
about the moral issues behind them then why not start with your own household
and sell you big overblown fancy cars and trappings of riches and give the money
to the poor. Of course you can't, won't are unable to etc.
I am getting fed up of your routine bashing of Bob Geldof and other charity efforts
whilst your darling protege gets no such lambastings when he does something for
charity whilst self promoting at the same time. Get over yourselves the lot of you.

I dont sell my big overblown fancy car and trappings of riches to give to the poor because I am "the poor"
Our car is cheap and fifteen years old.
I have worked in a voluntary capacity for various charities for almost forty years and that is why I am aware of the restrictions and difficulties with donations that can make the situation worse.
Not that giving to charity is at all wrong, It is very much needed, but there is a whole industry around it which is in my opinion immoral, and I believe there are better ways of getting the money to where it is needed quickly.
Surely anyone donating would like to help as many people as possible?

Quit your jibber jabber wrote:
Seriously you people are effing hypocrites and should get over yourselves.
Regardless of its shortcomings Band Aid, Live Aid, Comic Relief etc do a lot
of good and they are entertaining in their own right. If you want to argue
about the moral issues behind them then why not start with your own household
and sell you big overblown fancy cars and trappings of riches and give the money
to the poor. Of course you can't, won't are unable to etc.
I am getting fed up of your routine bashing of Bob Geldof and other charity efforts
whilst your darling protege gets no such lambastings when he does something for
charity whilst self promoting at the same time. Get over yourselves the lot of you.

Well said Sir. I'm glad I'm not the only one on here who believes the world is a much better place because of the efforts of Bob Geldof. There is no other music industry person (alive or dead) who has been responsible for raising more money for charity. It has been interesting to see everyone on this board praising Jimmy Savile's charity work and defending his other weaknesses but can't see any of the good Bob Geldof has done.