Charity Matters December 2013/January 2014 ISSUE 52

THAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT A seven year old Somerset schoolgirl is setting adults the best possible example of true charity, by spending some of her time visiting lonely…

RAPE OF CHILDREN IN WARS Ahead of next year’s London summit on sexual violence in war zones Save the Children have revealed the uncomfortable truth that…

POWER GRAB Large multi-national corporations are hoping to be able to sue governments for passing consumer protection laws that reduces their profits…

LESSONS FOR THE HEADTEACHER The headteacher of the Welsh school who banned a pupil from normal lessons for having his head shaved to raise money for …

PROFITABLE SLAUGHTER The killing of elephants in Africa for their ivory tusks has significantly increased over the last five years, as the price of ivory has rocketed to…

JAIL FOR CHARITY FRAUDSTER A man who lied that he ran a charity to claim gift aid and cheat the taxpayer out of £885,000 has been jailed for four years. Mark Lewis, 40…

THAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT

A seven year old Somerset schoolgirl is setting adults the best possible example of true charity, by spending some of her time visiting lonely elderly neighbours who are on their own and who see very few people. (Mature Times)

Lana Rowntree was touched by television reports featuring the loneliness of some pensioners who hadn’t had a visitor for six months and sent a hand-written letter, decorated with a drawing of her family, to the North Somerset Times asking if any pensioners would like to “be her friend”. She is now visiting one elderly lady on a regular basis, who is teaching her how to knit. Continue reading

RAPE OF CHILDREN IN WARS

Ahead of next year’s London summit on sexual violence in war zones Save the Children have revealed the uncomfortable truth that the majority of rape victims are children of both genders, in some cases just babies, and in some cases killed after the abuse. As well as soldiers perpetrators have been found to be opportunistic sexual predators, including teachers, religious leaders, peacekeepers and family members. Most offences go unreported, often due to the shame of the victims.

The summit, fronted by Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN special envoy for refugees Angelina Jolie will be attended by representatives from 137 countries and aims to stop the sexual violence common in war-zones being ignored for the sake of a peace treaty, also a reason why prosecutions are so few. Continue reading

POWER GRAB

Large multi-national corporations are hoping to be able to sue governments for passing consumer protection laws that reduces their profits, according to charity Wikipedia.

The new and controversial power will be given to companies by clauses in the far-reaching Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, a secretive free-trade agreement currently being thrashed out between twelve countries – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, USA and Vietnam. Continue reading

LESSONS FOR THE HEADTEACHER

The headteacher of the Welsh school who banned a pupil from normal lessons for having his head shaved to raise money for a cancer charity has expressed his dismay at being criticised in the press. (See Charity Matters October/November 2013, NO SKINHEADS HERE, LOOK YOU)

Rodney Francis wrote to parents after his ill-conceived decision caused more than 250 pupils to walk out in disgust, claiming that his Milford Haven School was “at the centre of public attention because of events relating to a breach of the school rules” rather than events set in motion by his own poor judgement. He expressed his desire to “move forward” (don’t they all?) and claimed that this was in the interests of all pupils, rather than his own. In what came across as a threat Francis also reminded parents that they and their children had signed a home-school contract to abide by the school rules. Continue reading

PROFITABLE SLAUGHTER

The killing of elephants in Africa for their ivory tusks has significantly increased over the last five years, as the price of ivory has rocketed to exceed that of gold, driven by demand from the new middle-class of China.

Charity Space for Giants, which employs just forty people to protect elephants has also warned that sympathy for elephant welare in Africa is tempered by the damage they can do to crops, an aspect that can deeply affect some of the poorest people on the planet.

An Elephant Appeal, to support the charity is being run by Independent newspapers and the Evening Standard.

JAIL FOR CHARITY FRAUDSTER

A man who lied that he ran a charity to claim gift aid and cheat the taxpayer out of £885,000 has been jailed for four years.

Mark Lewis, 40, from Porth, South Wales was helped in his fraud by his wife Elizabeth, 38, who was a fraud investigator for the Department of Work and Pensions and who received a suspended sentence for money laundering.

Event Organisers Update ISSUE 111 December 2013

GET IT RIGHT, KIDS Given all the latest kowtowing to the Chinese government it is clear that our politicians and business leaders are not going to let a few murdered…

TRUST ME – I’M YOUR BANKER No-one with more than one brain cell is likely to be surprised by the allegations that the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, and…

GROOM JAILED FOR VENUE BOMB HOAX The panicked Liverpool groom who staged a bomb scare at St Gearge’s Hall on his wedding day to cover up the fact…

A BIG ONE IN HAMBURG Those looking for big conference capacity in the centre of a major European city will want to know about the CCH – Congress Centre Hamburg…

FIVE-STAR IN HAMBURG A recent press trip to Hamburg included enjoying a two-night stay in the five-star Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten (Four Seasons to us Brits)…

TAKING THE NIGHT TRAIN For many there is something adventurous and romantic about travelling through the night by train, especially in the comfort of one’s own…

WORKING FROM HOME Our survey has so far pulled in two responders, both of whom commute to work via bus, train or car. One spending £3,000 a year on the…

GET IT RIGHT, KIDS

Given all the latest kowtowing to the Chinese government it is clear that our politicians and business leaders are not going to let a few murdered monks, parents killed in front of their children and the brutal Chinese oppression of an entire society in Tibet stand in the way of making some money.

Our own grovelling government are urging that more schoolchildren are taught Mandarin Chinese, the better to fill their pockets in later life. And the relief shown by our gullible politicians at the exciting possibility of getting Chinese funding for the deeply uneconomic HS2 disaster that will only ever benefit those with deep pockets is repellently palpable. Don’t they know the difference between an olive branch and a carrot on a stick?

Worst of all is the sick message being given to our children in all this sucking-up. Morals walk when money talks.

TRUST ME – I’M YOUR BANKER

No-one with more than one brain cell is likely to be surprised by the allegations that the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, and other bankers have, over many years systematically filled their boots by forcing companies, specifically some hoteliers with property assets to grab, into administration in order to seize those assets on the cheap for their property divisions. It’s what bankers do, isn’t it?

And no-one should therefore be surprised by the pontifications of RBS ceo Stephen Hester in damage limitation mode at the London School of Economics in 2012 where he said “The current level of negative feeling is, in my view, particularly unhealthy. We need to reach a new compact with society where banks are better at balancing the interests of everyone who depends on them”.

Of course, when he said this the poor chap had absolutely no idea what was going on…