I bought a newspaper for the first time in ages yesterday, an early edition of the London Evening Standard, on my way back from finishing the Christmas shopping.
I was struck by the way the stories were arranged, and am left asking myself this question: why is it that all the nasty stories (rape, murder, drugs etc) and banal features (the best Christmas window in London, the city worker with the 51 million pound bonus, and the luxuries of Julie’s restaurant) get pushed up to the first few pages, whilst the homeless in Paris, NHS waiting lists, and most notably one lady’s story of her Tsunami survival, and subsequent charity cycle ride across Cambodia, just get buried in the middle? Is it a lack of courage by the editor, or a sad reflection on what people actually want to read about?
What’s even more sad is that I’ve just been to Fiona Callanan’s fundraising page (Charity cycle for amputees in Cambodia) and there’s not one recent donation, despite of the fact that the web address was featured in the article (and before you say anything, I’ll be popping there in a minute to make my small donation).
Now a cunning plan, and a challenge:
It is widely claimed that any given person is connected to every other human being by at most six other people. So just how hard can it be to search out Pierre-Henri Flammand, recipient of the above-mentioned mega-bonus, and get him to do his little bit to redress the balance? I’m no fan of chain letters, but just this once it may be worth the effort of sending this on and trying to make a difference. After all, Fiona only needs another £650 to reach her £20,000 target, and I bet M. Flammand wouldn’t hesitate on popping into Julie’s Restaurant and spending that sort of money on a quick lunch. And nor would the editor of the Evening Standard either, I suspect!
But whatever you do, don’t forget to call in at Fiona’s page and give a small donation.