Life is great, we are doing well, individually and as a species but yes, every so often it’s time for time out, a relaxing break by the beach, in the mountains, the wilderness or wherever our fancy takes us.

Out come the glossy brochures, up come the internet pages, we lend our ear to the tales of adventure, freedom and happiness from family members, colleagues and friends. Even complete strangers are drawn into our musings as we are eager to disseminate our excitement, anticipation and pride – hey, we can afford it and we have deserved it, right? Continue reading “The Land of Cockayne*” →

How charitable is cold calling?

You may say, “what a ridiculous question, it’s obvious there is no charity in cold-calling,” yet we have recently seen how a number of large charities in the UK think it is appropriate to ‘cold-call’ people to raise money for their charities, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Cancer Research amongst others.

They employ companies to do the dirty work – and dirty work it is indeed. The undercover videos (1) (2) accompanying the recent media article – “VICTORY! After Mail exposé reveals shame of charity cold call sharks, PM pledges tough new laws to tackle ‘boiler room’ tactics targetting the elderly and vulnerable” – published by the Daily Mail UK (3), show the tactics that are used to get people to part with their cash. No one is spared from being given this opportunity to donate including elderly pensioners and those with dementia. Continue reading “Charities exposed for Cold-calling: What is True Charity?” →