Thursday 1 April 2010

Excellent April Fool's over at the BBC

From the BBC:

Cheap holidays 'prompted rise in skin cancer rates'

The advent of cheap package holidays in the 1970s has led to a "generational shift" in the rates of deadly skin cancer, a charity has warned...


The article goes on to explain that you're much less likely to get skin cancer if you go on safari in Africa, or skiing at Closters or on a round-the-world cruise.

The 'charity' concerned is of course Cancer Research UK, who are such bansturbators that you'd expect them to be a government-funded fakecharity by now. I have skim read the accounts, and apart from a couple of questionable joint ventures mentioned in notes 13 and 14 (or thereabouts), they look legit. Damn. I'll get them next time.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

A quick scan reveals over 3000 people working for free, a Chief Exec Salary of between £260 and £270k per annum and over £153m in assets.

I'll impart those facts to the next person wearing a pink ribbon who tries to mug me in the street or knocks on my door with a direct debit form

Brian, follower of Deornoth said...

So let me get this right. Going on cheap holidays (but not expensive ones) increases the risk of skin cancer?

Letters From A Tory said...

Some charities are fairly honourable, like Greenpeace (who have always refused government donations), but there are plenty who aren't.

Dick Puddlecote said...

Cancer Research UK are ... well, don't tempt me.

Seeing race for lifers running round a field to raise £50 for a multi-million pound business is quite pitiful. Especially when it's spent on aggressively interfering in our daily lives.

I even came across a story once (no time to google it) of a group of smokers who raised money for CRUK to 'show that smokers aren't bad people' or some such. And which charity is at the forefront of denonising smokers, exactly?

Sheesh.

Mark Wadsworth said...

HC, I've confronted chuggers with these facts, it goes straight over their heads.

BFOD, that's the implication.

LFAT, fair play to Greenpeace (who are genuinely mad), like I say CRUK look and feel like a fakecharity, but they aren't (yet), despite having ever closer ties and joint ventures with NHS and Big Pharma (i.e. the nicotine patch lobby).

DP, see my reply to LFAT. We all know that ASH is a govt. funded propaganda department. ASH also get about £100,000 a year from CRUK and British Heart Foundation. 2009 accounts.

James Higham said...

I've forgotten - it ends at midday, doesn't it? Catching someone at being an April Fool?

Mark Wadsworth said...

JH, this year it's extended until at least May 6th.

dearieme said...

Nice one, Wadsworth. May 6th, indeed.

Anonymous said...

I can vouch for Cancer Research UK. They ran the centre that looked after my first wife when she was afflicted with the disease. The contrast between their warm, caring, kind attitude and their thorough professionalism, and the horrors of the NHS hospital outside their centre, that did blood tests etc was astonishing.