The results to last week's Fun Online Poll were as follows:
Has anyone, anywhere, ever connected to free wifi successfully?
Yes, it usually works - 72%
Possibly somebody has else managed it, but it never seems to work for me - 28%
Good to know.
In that case I must be doing something very wrong, because it only works for me in hotels, never in shops or restaurants etc.
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This week's Fun Online Poll:
"Did you wear a poppy this year, and if not why not?"
I didn't write the possible answers, I took them from a BBC article on the topic.
Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.
Vile Hatred
1 hour ago
6 comments:
Well, no. I give a donation, but the poppies always fall off. Plus, people can judge me how they like.
One thing I do wonder - where's the money going? When I was a kid, I was surrounded by people who were WW2 veterans. Even a lot of WW1 veterans. And we were raising millions. All the WW1 veterans are dead. A lot of those WW2 veterans are dead. OK, we've added the Falklands, a couple of Gulf Wars and Afghanistan, but that's not on the same scale.
I wonder how many charities have said "Right, that's it, we've done what we set out to do, give your cash to someone else, we're all off to new jobs or down the dole office to sign on"?
Damn few, would be my guess.
Where's the money going? I've a sneaking suspicion that the more the public puts into the poppy fund to support old soldiers, the less that the government has to spend on them. So there may be fewer old soldiers but the ones that are left receive less financial support from the government and more from the poppy fund.
TS, a good question, but total funds raised is only about £40 million a year, so wherever it goes, it does not go far.
Bayard,
None. They wind up when they stop getting donations/grants. What happens with some charities is that they morph into something else. Mothers Against Drunk Driving was formed by a woman whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver and it achieved most of its objectives - getting better DUI testing in America. So, she quit and went back to work. But of course, you've now got people of the "organiser"/"middle management" mindset who don't want to find another job. They've carved out a nice, comfortable place. So, Mothers Against Drunk Driving moved into being basically anti-alcohol.
It's the same with the women's rights movement. Women got equal rights decades ago, and now it's just a bunch of mad women talking about the VAT on tampons (according to Julia Hartley-Brewer costs about 75p/year) or putting women on pound notes. Unsurprisingly, a lot of women don't want the "feminist" tag.
Derek,
You may be right. Although I'm not sure the government ever cared much. And we also have things like Help for Heroes.
Mark,
It does seem low when so many people seem to have them. I always donate, and I don't care about having a poppy to wear, and frankly, always felt a bit guilty about only handing over a fiver.
The numbers thing only came to me today. £40m sounds like a lot, but how many people is it now helping, and how? I'm very much of the "look after the troops" perspective. I've never had to risk my life for anyone, and I always feel indebted towards people who do. But we know that the numbers of ex-soldiers is dramatically smaller than it was 30 years ago.
Maybe we're just doing more for them. I just worry about charities and how much nest-feathering goes on.
"just a bunch of mad women talking about the VAT on tampons (according to Julia Hartley-Brewer costs about 75p/year)"
I wouldn't be surprised if that whole furore turned out to have been whipped up simply to reinforce the myth that VAT is a tax on luxuries.
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