Indian Ocean Earthquake.

[Gromit]

Pull UK troops OUT of IRAQ.

Put Uk troops in India,Sri Lanka etc !!!!

Now that would make sense.

So no chance of that happening then.

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

I was in the Maldives a couple of years ago, on the island I stayed on the highest point was 5 feet above sea level............................................s**t

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

And just how much aid can you get into a plane seat? The reporters and their equipment are going via scheduled flights which are not geared up to take food or chemical aid. A good deal of the kit they take with them is taken as hand luggage, so there is very litle cargo space taken up by the reporters and their gear. Trust me on this...

... apart from which, without the dramatic pictures and reports of the suffering, would the public contributions be as large? Mad Lon; I sympathise, though, the reporters seem to be in a parallel universe, don't they - clean shirts and all.  

[Blatman]

the reporters seem to be in a parallel universe, don't they - clean shirts and all.

Which proves what? Only that they are resourceful enough to be able to launder their clothes, that's all. They aren't living it up in the hotels where they're reporting from, 'cos there aren't any. They are battling the conditions just like everyone else. Well, mostly. I know for a fact that most of them got very little notice that they would be going, and that in order to take enough filming gear, they would've kept their luggage relatively light. Reporters have been seen helping to dig for survivors/bodies once their pieces are filed, so they are doing what they can. They're certainly providing more practical help on the ground than anyone in the UK...

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Not proving anything nor trying to, Blatters, but their contrasting appearance from the local populace arouses feelings like those MadLon mentioned. It's no criticism on my part, merely an observation of how things strike people. Actually, I don't envy the reporters their jobs, they must all be pretty traumatised by what they see, and the more sensitive ones really quite emotionally damaged. On balance, as I implied in my comment on your post, I believe they make a positive contribution by making the rest of the world aware of the scale and extent of the disaster, apart from the practical help "off screen".

[Blatman]

I obviously mis-interpreted your posting. Sorry

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

 

[mad lon]

Who sends these reporters and what are the senders motives?

[jonlewis]

Michael Schumacher has donated $10m to the appeal.

His stock with me just went up. I know he can afford it etc, but it is a massive donation by a private individual.

[Guest]

A terrible situation to which the response has been enormous, albeit still dwarfed by the challenge facing those trying to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.  Every cent the gets though is worthwhile.

However I cannot help but compare this response to others, for example that which occurred after the genocide in Rwanda when in excess of 800000 people died.  Others, like the situation in Somalia continue almost without note.

Perhaps this is due to humanity not holding itself responsible for natures excesses.  This makes us feel better about doing something.  It is certainly much easier politically.

John

[scott beeland]

Politics

[PeterOz]

Michael Schumacher has donated $10m to the appeal.

His stock with me just went up. I know he can afford it etc, but it is a massive donation by a private individual.

I'd agree with that - especially when you compare it with the pitiful amounts donated by the wallies paid obscene amounts of money just to kick a ball around a field.

The Premiership makes a big thing of donating £1m - how many clubs in the premiership? 20, that's £50,000 each, or less than Man U pays Wayne Rooney a week. And the players themselves are just as ungenerous. Man U team players managed to raise just £50,000 between them - individually probably considerably less than they spent on their wives, girlfriends, grannies this Christmas.

Big business is just as stingy:

Vodafone £1m - that's just one tenthousandth of its annual profit - work out what onetenthousandth of your annual income less expenses is and I'll bet you've given, or will give, much more than that.

Tesco - annual profits £1.7bn, managed just £100,000 plus some food and water.

BP - £9bn profit, that's over a £1m per hour - £1.6m contribution.

Companies in the UK already benefit from some of the lowest tax rates outside the US, so maybe it's time we increased taxes on high profits and high earners unless they start giving at the same rate as the rest of us.

[Fat Albert]

Jon

I'll have to Stop Slagging Schuie, $10,000,000 puts the premier leagues $1.8m into perspective, more here

[Fat Albert]

PeterOz

so maybe it's time we increased taxes on high profits and high earners unless they start giving at the same rate as the rest of us.

Whilst I understand your sentiments, taxation just moves money from one lot of morons to another lot...

Don't forget that almost the very first action of Bliars government was to steal one third of lottery good causes funds for general taxation, a total of £2.1bn since its introduction.

Far better to tax the parasites (read agents and lawyers) that take so much money out of sport/arts etc.

[Boxy]

I was looking at some of the footage of the waves that some people managed to get.  It's completely surreal, you can see people on the beaches just thinking ooh this is a big wave, even laughing and joking about it. Once it gets within a few meters they think, hang on this ain't stopping, by that time it's too late to run.  Fortunately it was only a small wave in the scheme of thing and they got away with it, just.  It's completely hypnotic which is probably the major factor in why so many people lost their lives.

So far I haven't donated much, but whenever I see a collection whatever I have on me at the time goes in