The number of gambling addicts in the UK is rising sharply, according to charity support groups and others involved in monitoring the sector.

One, Gamecare, reports a 34 per cent rise in calls to its helpline between 2005 and 2006. And the British Gambling Prevalence Study reports a rise in the number of “problem gamblers” from 300,000 in 1999 to more than 800,000 today, as the opportunities to gamble, in particular in the area of online betting, have increased tenfold.

The gross revenue of the gambling industry is said to be £9.3 billion, the total number of gamblers to be 40 million and the number of “hopeless addicts” to be around 2% or 1 in 50.

The government, perhaps mindful of the above, has performed a sharp U-turn on its recent promotion of gambling as a way of filling Treasury coffers.

The charity sector is one that discriminates least against women.

This is a conclusion that might be drawn from research by the Chartered Management Institute and Remuneration Economics and published in leading charity publication Third Sector. The research showed that: Continue reading →

The wisdom of charities in their choice of celebrities for promoting their causes continues to be questioned in the press.

A recent Daily Telegraph interview with model Naomi Campbell, who is lending her support to the Rotary Club of Great Britain’s July flood disaster appeal at British Fashion Week, suggested that her enthusiasm for the project is superficial. The journalist, Neil Tweedie found her “almost comatose with boredom” when talking in a “slow, world-weary faux Manhattan drawl” (Ms Campbell is from downtown Streatham) abort the way the images of the floods had affected her. Also commented on were her plans for caringly investing some of her money in Africa – “Naomi really does care Continue reading →

A fake counsellor log-sheet in a 200,000 mailing from the NSPCC’s ChildLine has got the charity into trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The log-sheet contained what seemed to be genuine counsellor reports of calls from children, which included one whose father was a violent drunk who assaulted the child’s mother after drinking, one who just sobbed uncontrollably and one whose babysitter was abusing her. Continue reading →