Tom Paine at The Last Ditch has been upset by my posting about the NSPCC and its wealth of government funding and its attack on home educators. So upset in fact that he's going to cancel his standing order to the "charity".
Good for him.
There are so many "charities" with their noses in the trough of government spending that it's actually quite hard to find any prominent ones that are in the clear. This is a pity because I'm going to have to cancel my own direct debit - to Plan International - on the same grounds, and I do want to keep doing my bit. But I will only give money to someone who doesn't milk me for cash through the tax system too.
If anyone can suggest suitable homes for my regular giving, suggestions would be welcome in the comments. I also want to start flagging up real charities as well as the fakes. We really need a couple of logos along the lines of the Porkbusters one. We need both a "Fake Charity" and a "Real Charity" one. The Real Charity one would be particularly useful because we could award it and allow those who eschew public cash to display it on their publicity material and so attract extra private donations. Any graphic designers out there? Alternatively would anyone be interested in bunging some cash my way so I can get one made? Contact me (link in the sidebar) if you think this is worth following up on. There are online logo designers who will do these things for a couple of hundred quid.