phil b

maybe one day i too could grow to be a rude mockery of the medical profession... :lol: we've all got to dream a dream!

not harassment as such- i just found sentences such as very trying... "So, we give Africans money and all they do is buy guns to kill their population. We teach Africans how to farm and their governments thank us by killing us.... just maybe, the Africans don't want world peace, etc.. like we do, and we should just let them be. " there's just no point even trying to reason, it's just bigotry, plain and simple... and i don't really want to be getting into all that- i have a lot on my mind and any response to that would just get heated.

haha... i see... we're yet to see him on this side of the pond!

lol fortunately i think this is about a real doctor... i'm just a bogus one ;)

:x *shakes fist* £135 for a condenser mic.... £12 for the cable... it would've been a little nicer if it worked! :x i'm giving it a little more time, i may have just fucked up somewhere... but it's not looking good :sad:

you won't find a better t-shirt than my monopoly tournament one though :lol:

this definitely is a great thread- i've enjoyed it a great deal... you are 100% right sweety_230 (do you mind if i call you sarah? :) ) about the screaming girlies who, the chances are, know nothing about the cause, that's rather bemusing to say the least! i think that it is the responsibility of the individual to find out where the money goes- as long as there is the option to... if they don't particularly care, then fair enough, it's their money... i don't have a problem with chris promoting the cause, but yes, the sloganeering can be a bit much (writing on the hands etc), it hardly encourages fans to think carefully about it. you take a very balanced view, sarah, but unfortunately not everyone can- i received a PM from the sender of the original letter which i found rather offensive, which angered me a great deal- for this reason i'd rather not participate in the debate much further, i don't come on this board for that sort of thing... but it's been very interesting, thanks guys :)

i've got a thundercats one...

thing is, i discovered when talking to many direct debit subscribers, a lot of people don't really care where exactly their money has gone- they are just glad to know it's helping... with all the charities i've come across information packs are given, with a freephone number which you can call and speak to the charity's head office about how their donation is helping. :) however- i do not personally give to oxfam (at the moment i've got direct debits for action for blind people, scope (children with cerebral palsy) and NSPCC (national society for prevention of cruelty to children)... they have all been fantastic for providing information- i honestly couldn't fault them... Maybe they work differently in the states/canada...?

michael bolton? that doesn't even merit a response! nick drake...

I'm pretty sure Albertus Medium (in capitals) is the coldplay font. thanks :)

grandaddy t-shirt.... choice of trousers as yet undecided...

hewletts! :lol:

talented! *puts underneath the weeping willow on*

That's a very fair point- but the point remains that giving to a registered charity through the correct channels can never be a bad thing, and it should only ever be encouraged. When you say people should be more educated- in what way do you mean?

Oxfam isn't an amateur organisation- they may be non-profit but are professional enough to research projects fully to make sure schools which are built will not become obsolete. Charities are always fully investigated (especially ones as high-profile as oxfam)- when you say you don't know where the money is going, it's certainly not going to be legally allowed to go to a fatcat. And when you say after doing research into charities i may find they are not as wonderful as they make themselves out to be- i disagree wholeheartedly... i used to work for a company which at one point was concerned with advertisements for charities- as a person who questions a lot of things and thinks too much for his own good, i took it upon myself to do a lot of researching- and the one key point is- these organisations are there solely to make things better. That's exactly what they do. People will naturally be sceptical when it comes to parting with hard earned cash- but really- when people speak out against charitable organisations it really does frustrate me... for example- a £5 per month donation will harm no-ones pocket, but it can make a great deal of difference for those who are helped. During my job i spent some time talking to the disabled- when i saw how donations had helped them (or in some cases, when i saw how badly they needed help), it made me appreciate why these charities are so unbelievably special. Fair enough, they may not be able to help as much you may wish they did, but what is the other option, not give at all? I'm talking too much here, i apologise!

that's a very wry use of a smiley...

thanks for posting that up, by the way, ian- it got my brain cogs turning... :)

It's very much a shame to hear that this person lost his/her job- i have utmost sympathy for that. However, i feel that their points are a little misguided. I would write in more detail, but i'm going to bed very soon, i'm very sleepy. Here goes. Granted- the fair trade movement can hurt local industries- however as you will know, the USA already is accountable for a ridiculous percentage of the world's resources- 'fair trade' is intended to reduce exploitation of 3rd world labour and in the long term- although full redistrubution of wealth is implausible, the movement does intend to make things a bit, well, fairer. The wealth of Yasser Arafat is totally irrelevant, you cannot close your mind to the fact that there are people in africa starving to death. For that reason- yes, a number of jobs maybe lost in the developed world, but lives will be saved far beyond the view of suburban america. To say that 'fair trade' is crippling the UK economy is frankly ridiculous. It's not. The problems in Zimbabwe and the Israel/Palestine conflict has absolutely nothing to do with the shortcomings of the fair trade movement. Arafat may be stinking rich, but i think the writer of this letter may have forgotten a little thing called oil. And what do Mugabe's killing sprees have to do with oxfam? The movement which Coldplay endorse is concerned with buying direct from 3rd world farmers. Companies relocating to developing countries merely for cheaper labour is exploitation- not advocated by oxfam. So again, the letter is way off the mark. As for the concerns of money going to the wrong places- that is related to government handouts- again, nothing to do with the fair trade movement. I would like to know how oxfam building a school independently is going to mean money straight into the pocket of Arafat. Oxfam is a non-profit organisation which is dedicated 100% to helping save lives and develop 3rd world countries. They find this movement has proven itself to be the most effective way of alleviating problems. I think they should be given the benefit of the doubt on this one. However misguided i found these points to be, my disagreement is just another point of view, I accept that. However, it would have been a little more interesting to see what the writer of the letter suggests we do. Helping out developing countries is seen as a foolish thing to do. True, many governments may be corrupt, but does that mean we should just leave these people to die?

woohoo! just finished the phonecall :D she rocks so much! good to hear things are going well with the new man :lol:

meh, it can't cost too much... besides, i'm already in so much debt one phonecall's not gonna hurt me! :lol: hows things with the new man? :)

read the page before! i went off on a little miles tangent!

i haven't been ID'd for about a year now... although i was in the supermarket the other day buying a couple of DVDs (cert 15) and the woman asked in broken english how old i was... :o