Nada,Nil,Nothing,Zilch,Zip.

Sadly though its the people who need it most , will be affected if we stop , my wife said that to me recently , i was thinking along the same lines as yourself , till she pointed out to me that even though it makes my blood boil , to see the abuse of monies been sent to help the poor , i still have to give ...How i give is now the problem...

workrider, have you considered Direct Aid For Africa, Barney Curley's charity ? Every cent raised goes directly to those most in need and there are minimal, and only absolutely neccessary, costs associated with the charity. Given the level of B.C.'s involvement and attention to detail, you can be sure you'll get full value for your donation.

http://www.dafa.co.uk/

reb,
    I respect anyone who gives to charity, I give on a regular basis,(not more than £50), but I will never again give to a foreign charity while my own are having to eat out of food banks..and are homeless, and come home with no arms or legs,or there are kids ill, people look to their own conscience, but while my hypocritical government send money in aid to india or china!i for one belive charity begins at home.

yes Wildman, sickening that the government give this money and will be giving more! all to show the tories are caring...while they take sickness benefit away from the disabled, and cut money to our own charity e.g shelter..

That's okay, Tony. The overriding consideration for me, when giving, is that I get full value for my donation.

yes reb..you have my respect mate.

Tony surprised your National lottery isn,t being run for charitable causes,tis run for sports arts etc, when i would have thought that area should be paid for by the goverment through taxes raised,probably the same in Ireland but think they initially made a "mistake" when they went that route though from memory it was supposed to be directed at charitable causes.

yes pa, still does in some ways ..but if you want money from the lottery you have to be a registered charity and apply for funding..there are that many applying pa..that only 1 - 100 get anything?unfortunately, british charities have seen more than 25% of their government help gone due to the cuts in funding..my local sure start (kids club for working families) has just closed cos they have had their government funding stopped and the council cannot make up the shortfall because of the same funding cuts from government.

Obviously stating India has sent a spaceship to Mars is deemed offensive by the terrified moderators,a sign of the times.