short interview with camila batmanghelidjh

[fl0wer]

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/17/camila-batmanghelidjh-this-much-i-know?guni=Keyword:news

A reminder of differences between rich and poor.

She never stops work for disadvantaged children even as government funding gets more precarious.

here's a link to their Summer Appeal page.

http://www.kidsco.org.uk/

[Laur]

Thanks for that fl0wer, what an inspirational woman

[????]

It's not just working with the poor, it's working with children who society has given up with completely, I think she's really inspirational. I read her interviewed in the Observer recently and she says cabbies often refuse to take a fair off her which tickled me given cabbies' reps.

[Bellenden Belle]

I feel very uneasy about her actually.

That's a little like criticising Mother Teresa but perhaps that's partly the trouble.

The publics perception of Kids Company is of a small operation run 'under the arches' in the streets of Peckham - yet the reality is the company has an annual turnover of 18 million with 4.4 million coming from statutory funding. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that turnover for the work they do but a) I would suggest there are many people delivering frontline services in Kids company that we haven't heard of b) would cab officers be equally as quick to give a free ride to the CEO of Oxfam, NSPCC, etc etc?

I feel churlish even writing this post and I know most charities would absolutely kill for such a media friendly spokesperson. We do need more people like her willing to draw attention to the issues - but I don't think we need to necessarily beatify them as saints.

[fl0wer]

Surprised to see this item suddenly catch people's eye - thanks for contributions so far.

Bellenden Belle, please could you support

"the company has an annual turnover of 18 million with 4.4 million coming from statutory funding" with a reference?

I understand the viewpoint re: sainthood. It gives me the red alarm light too.

My reservations about ALL charity in general, is that it keeps in place the status quo which necessitates it, the appalling things that happen in the world being a continuous cycle. Instead of the strong setting in place systems that prevent people from collapsing or being exploited to death. The history of efforts to deal with The Poor in Victorian times is very illuminating in this regard.

But I think Kids Company has a better, perhaps more curative mission. It would be good to look at this aspect, what happens to its clients as they grow older? What do they say about it as they look back, do they feel it made a difference to their prospects long-term?

[Bellenden Belle]

fl0wer Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Surprised to see this item suddenly catch people's

> eye - thanks for contributions so far.

> Bellenden Belle, please could you support

> "the company has an annual turnover of 18 million

> with 4.4 million coming from statutory funding"

> with a reference?

>

http://www.kidsco.org.uk/about-us/government-funding

Figures taken from statement on kidsco website - their company accounts are also available on the charity commission website.

[JDR]

Relatively speaking ?18 million is quite a small amount of money. It sounds huge to domestic people such as ourselves but to provide food, counselling, daily staff, food vouchers etc to the large numbers they get is quite astonishing. And she's not poor, she is very honest about that. The kindnesses she receives aren't because she needs it but it is society's way of saying we like you doing this. I couldn't be as brave as her, would not have had financial backing or known where to start. Also, as a woman from Tehran she could have gone anywhere. Why London? Sad that we need her....

[Top Girls]

A lot of money is collected during Christmas around the World to help the poor and has never been enough.

PMs

fl0wer Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/1

> 7/camila-batmanghelidjh-this-much-i-know?guni=Keyw

> ord:news

>

> A reminder of differences between rich and poor.

> She never stops work for disadvantaged children

> even as government funding gets more precarious.

>

> here's a link to their Summer Appeal page.

> http://www.kidsco.org.uk/

[fl0wer]

Here she is writing back to Michael Gove after he reminded teachers to use their powers punishing children more:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/07/michael-gove-minister-punishment-discipline-social-care

[uncleglen]

The sociologist Charles Murray warned Britain in the '70s that we were breeding an underclass and part of this was fuelled by our generous welfare and benefits system. Since the 'underclass' is breeding at almost 3x the rate of the educated classes and has been for decades, then these problems were inevitable and, in fact, predicted by Murray. Unfortunately in their quest for votes, decades of politicians have lacked the will to grasp this nettle.

[El Pibe]

A cursory search reveals that "Since the 'underclass' is breeding at almost 3x the rate of the educated classes and has been for decades" would appear to be simply made up.

That birth rates are similar across socio-economic class though lower socio-economic status will tend toward having them younger, marginally higer rates stemming from ethinicity and religion (namely mainly catholics and south asians) and recent migrants.

http://populationmatters.org/documents/family_sizes.pdf

https://www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/research/nordic/ukdemo.PDF