Live 8 Geldof, Elton et al.

[elgroucho]

I think the cause that Geldof and co stand for is great and I like the fact that they use their profiles to highlight important issues, but does anyone else get a bit irritated by the likes of Elton John telling us to help end third world debt etc when he has spent millions of pounds (literally millions) on frivolous items like flowers? Are they really doing their best or do they just do the odd thing now and again to suit themselves?

[jno]

Elton's flower bill doesn't just vanish into thin air, after all. It goes to flower growers - perhaps those in the third world - which helps them make a living. Money spent is just as useful as money donated, maybe more so because it helps keep people in business. Would he be better spending it on Kalashnikovs, for instance, so he keeps arms makers in business?

(And all this says nothing about any money he does give direct to charities, about which I know nothing.)

[elgroucho]

Nice answer jno, still I think the spending is a bit lavish, and I'm not sure how swelling the coffers of Interflora helps eradicate debt in Malawi for example. Let's try and keep things more general than specific though. Are they not a bit two-face, holier than thee? Could they try harder? Are they preaching one thing and doing another?

[MargeB]

I agree with jno. And it's not just interflora. Elton spent tens of thousands on cocaine, which kept many families in Peru and Columbia supported for many years.

I agree with the sentiment of the post.

GIVE US YOUR MONEY!!!!!. No mate. You give your money. Sell your 1.5 million house in London, give that money to the poor. Now you're at my level. Now tell me what to do. Tch.

[woofgang]

No I guess they aren't really giving all they could. Neither am I and neither (I suspect) are most of us.

All that money that EJ spent has been taxed umpty million times and it may not be ending up in Malawi, but it certainly is ending up in the pockets of businesses who employ people who are taxed again and who give money to charity which they would not be able to give if they weren't employed......

[jno]

I'd be amazed if Elton dealt with anything so mundane as Interflora! Might as well accuse him of going to Specsavers. Seriously, lots of flowers come in from abroad - I've seen businesses in Mauritius and beside Lake Naivasha in Kenya, for a start, that do a big export trade.

Sorry if this is unduly specific - but I do think, to keep it general, that helping third world businesses by buying their produce is at least as good as just handing money over to them; and I don't see any reason why the likes of Elton shouldn't think so too. (Though okay, perhaps global economics isn't his specialist subject.)

[ludwig]

But you could say the same about any of us. On the poverty scale if the starving person is on the ground floor and Elton is up in the 20th floor penthouse, most of us 'average' people who have somewhere to live, 3 meals a day, a car, computer, Sky TV and a holiday in Majorca every year are up there with Elton, probably about floor 19. What about all the frivolous stuff we buy? - frog ringtones etc - why doesn't that money go to charity?

Elton John - and I'm not particularly a fan or anything - makes massive contributions to charity, probably more as a proportion of his income that alot of us.

[elgroucho]

You all make great points. I'm certain that none of us really do as much as we can, but then again, we aren't in a position to influence others and are not generally beating the drum for the cause in the way these people are.

[kaktus]

I agree jno that buying third world products helps too, as long as you think of who exactly it is that you support through you buying these products. Do the farmer ever recieve anything, working conditions etc. When I can, I buy fair trade products, I might get fewer and more expensive bananas, but I know that the farmer got his fair share.