Keep your money: campaign instead

Charity in the true sense of the word is fine with me. We should be generous and kind to others and ensure the wellbeing of our fellow man. What I really despise is the modern day “charity” which collects cold hard cash. The list of do gooders out there with one aim in mind-to take our money-is seemingly endless.

How have we allowed this to develop? Hospices funded almost exclusively by donations; research into the world's major killer diseases reliant upon trust funds and charitable contributions; children dependent on Royal Societies for protection from abuse. We deserve these essential roles to be provided as a matter of course, not on the whim of the benevolent. The United Kingdom is a rich country: we can afford a fleet of nuclear submarines and yet we have people sleeping in doorways and eating at Salvation Army soup kitchens.

I really am disgusted by the obscenity of professional charities. When I get off the underground, I do not want to buy a Big Issue and help the homeless. I do not believe that you should have to stand all day in the rain selling a product that nobody really wants to read.

Further along the street I may get harangued by a mob of overenthusiastic youths uniformed in coloured bibs. Anyone foolish enough to stop and engage in conversation with these salespeople is wasting their time and money. Ask them how much of your direct debit goes to pay their wages-did you really think that they were volunteers?

Medical research funding is split into three major sources: government, charity, and drug companies. Having hundreds of charities for important areas of research can only hinder work. Every year millions of pounds must be lying in accounts waiting for appropriate …