Just give money. Don't bother buggering about with this. Same goes for Sir Shit Richard and the rest... just put your hand in your very large pockets and give some money quietly and without fuss. Why try and salve your pop star conscience in such a crass and public way?

I agree with Durutti. I read some shite on - I think - the Sky News website (which is what I get for reading it I guess) saying that this could end up being a Band Aid II. Fuck off - Band Aid was a good idea, it was a first at the time. Anything else since then has been just jumping on the (Band) Aid wagon (yes, I know - very weak). Now I sound like a big Band Aid fan, which wasn't the intention.

The point is - as already said - stop puffing up your great big fat egos, put your hands in your big fat rock/pop star pockets and give a bunch of big fat money.

I feel weak and nauseous at the thought of the charedee single - Mike Read, Cliffy, Bee Gees etc etc.
Also, I'm tired of hearing how much money each country has given. The Guardian on Saturday even had a bar chart showing where the UK stood in amounts of money donated so far. It's not a fucking competition!!

Grrr.

That's all for now.

I was fuming when I read the single. It's about attempting to revive careers... or at least, get a bit of chart success for the first time in ages.

Think about it. I gave £50 to the tsunami appeal and will give more when I'm paid again. If people are told they can help through a charity record, two things will happen:

1) It will reinforce the idea that we always have to get something in return (red-nosed comedy, a charity record, whatever) to sugar the pill of giving. This time round, it hasn't been the case so far which is very refreshing.
2) If people think buying the single will help, they'll donate £3.99 (at a guess) minus costs to the appeal. If they had just been asked to donate, do you not think they would have been given more?

And let's not start on just how bad the record will be.

I rant about this stuff from time to time: http://captaindamo.blogspot.com

My parents have that exact painting in their living room. It's some Japanese thing. Weird.

Oh for christ's sake...can someone just kill the idea of 'charity single' please? Unless it's JPL's 'Courage/Danger'.

appparently they hope to have the charity thingy headlined by either stereophonics or manic street preachers.

yet another disaster caused by this tsunami.

I take it 'Tsunami' wouldn't be in the Manic's set that night if that's true.

Maybe we could organise a donation based enterprise for them not to record the single, i'm thinking we'll make at least double if not more

a show is being planned in Manchester as well. i shall post more details when i have it.....

Why don't we all just not buy this song and like Damian just go in too marks and spencers and donate the £50, that way at least we won't hear the bastard on radio play

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I've done enough ranting about this already, that'll suffice for now.

Here's the story at the BBC News website.

If the insufferably smug look on His Holiness The Cliff's face doesn't make you want to punch a hole in your monitor, the fourth paragraph (beginning "Former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating...") should do the trick.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4140133.stm

I think that celebs are being a bit selfish by singing on this as, although they are helping, wouldn't it be more useful if they just gave a very large donation without all the fuss? It seems to me that some celebrities will find any excuse at an attempt to become more famous. Although, it is quite a nice idea and some people who wouldn't have donated anything might buy the single. However, on the other hand, people who would have donated something larger, might not and buy the single instead. Also, going by the rumoured line up, it sounds as if it's going to be a shit song. Why can't they release a charity song that people might actually enjoy listening to?

I agree with all previuos comments, this is a very sad attempt at massaging egos and reviving careers. everytime celebrities/polititions are charitable there is no need for the PR.

A few points:
1. Five millon people die every year (about 100,000 a week or 15,000 a day) from a lack of food, and a similar (if not greater) number from a lack of fresh water, sanitation, and cheap medicines. The tsunami was an awful thing and I doubt anybody could have seen any of the after effects and not feel like their heart might burst, but it's totally hypocritical of people to suddenly rush out and give money now and feel all generous and not do anything about the everyday situation. Have you noticed that there's been absolutely nothing in the news about the Sudan crisis since Boxing Day? I doubt the government and militia there have stopped raping and killing people all of a sudden, but I guess it isn't sexy enough news any more to bother reporting on. Elsewhere, people are still starving to death in their thousands. But I guess it's OK, cos it's poverty's fault, and the world market, it's just something that just happens, their own fault for being poor, made by rich people's economics not a natural disaster, so we can all pretend it isn't happening, eat our cheap subsidised food that's causing half the problem, and focus on being horrified by the more unusual event, because thinking about the thousands dying preventably every day for lack of food, sanitation and basic medicines would make it difficult for us to carry on with our own priviledged lives.
2. I heard on the news just before Christmas that Band Aid 20 had sold 20m copies and raised £8m. Whoop de fucking doo. If all the people that bought it had given their £4 to Oxfam or the Red Cross instead of taking home a piece of cheap tat from their local supermarket or record megamart, that would have been £80m, 10x as much. Maybe they should have done it as a free download and put collection boxes in every supermarket and record megamart.
3. Donation sizes might have turned into some sort of competition but note £79m from the UK is little more than £1 per person, so not everyone's been that generous after all.

If anybody has been touched by any of this please set up a standing order to Oxfam, the Red Cross, or another charity that is involved in dealing with poverty in Africa or Asia day to day. A pound, or £2, or £5 a month is nothing to most of us (what, a CD single a month, or a pint), but it will make a lot of difference to the people who live in fear, poverty and hunger their whole lives. Support Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign (even if it's just signing their web petition, although buying some fair trade stuff would be another good bet, or just even avoid the obvious unfair-trade companies, which wouldn't even cost you anything). You don't have to drop everything and live on an allotment wearing sackcloth to make an actual real difference, every day, to people living in developing countries.

You know, I realise that there is poverty and sarvation and that going on everyday around the world, but I never thought about how really unfair it is that we are making a whole big fuss over the Tsunami disaster until I read that. You have really inspired me to give to regular charities that help people in devloping countries more often. Thanks.