Charity 101

I think this is my first post of the winter, properly so called, as they say. I lament the Autumn, over almost as soon as it began. I am already looking forward to the Spring. In the meantime, I am dealing with the cold and frost as best I can. I have resumed work on my thesis, and I hope to have completed it in the next few weeks.

While all this has been going on, our dear politicians continue to show us why they are unworthy of the great office they hold. They have all run out of ideas, and have now resorted to gimmickry. In particular, I am thinking of the Government's new initiative to 'foster' a culture of charitable giving in our children. One would have thought that that was the sort of thing a child learnt from home, the church or elsewhere. Anyway, this Government has decided that each school should open an account for charitable donations, and encourage its pupils to donate. To set the ball rolling, the Government has decided to pay £500 of public money into each such account. I like the Adam Smith Institute's reaction to the story. They have pointed out to the Government something that should have been clear to even a local councillor, that charity was about 'giving your own money away, not someone else's - that's taxation.'