RIP - Capt Sir Tom Moore 02/02/21

[Zetec-S]

Joey Deacon said:

Cloudy147 said:

Captain Tom was awesome, did a great thing, the family looked after him, we all got a motivational boost, and the NHS got a ton of money which made a massive difference during COVID. That's the legacy, not all of this 'not really news' nonsense.

Or in my opinion during a period of collective Covid mentalism, a lot of people who were outside every week banging saucepans got behind this. A combination of Blitz spirit, social media and a sense of Britishness meant this whole thing exploded and went crazy.

The government sensing how big this was getting got behind it as well and used Captain Tom as a propaganda distraction for the way they were handling the pandemic which could only be described as a clusterfk.

All the while spunking hundreds of billions of pounds up the wall and giving contracts to their friends and Tory party donors for PPE equipment that turned out to be useless.

I would argue the money (if any of it actually got to a charity) made sod all difference compared to the hundreds of Billions the government were throwing around in the vain hope it might make a difference and they had to be seen to be doing something.

100% agree with this.

[Red9zero]

Zetec-S said:

Joey Deacon said:

Cloudy147 said:

Captain Tom was awesome, did a great thing, the family looked after him, we all got a motivational boost, and the NHS got a ton of money which made a massive difference during COVID. That's the legacy, not all of this 'not really news' nonsense.

Or in my opinion during a period of collective Covid mentalism, a lot of people who were outside every week banging saucepans got behind this. A combination of Blitz spirit, social media and a sense of Britishness meant this whole thing exploded and went crazy.

The government sensing how big this was getting got behind it as well and used Captain Tom as a propaganda distraction for the way they were handling the pandemic which could only be described as a clusterfk.

All the while spunking hundreds of billions of pounds up the wall and giving contracts to their friends and Tory party donors for PPE equipment that turned out to be useless.

I would argue the money (if any of it actually got to a charity) made sod all difference compared to the hundreds of Billions the government were throwing around in the vain hope it might make a difference and they had to be seen to be doing something.

100% agree with this.

It did all start off with very noble intentions, but very quickly turned into a convenient distraction to everything else going on. Now even the noble intentions have been sullied by his daughter and her dubious activities.

[Legacywr]

All he did was walk around his garden...

[mac96]

Escort3500 said:

Cloudy147 said:

Legacywr said:

Randy Winkman said:

Mercdriver said:

Yup, it was rubbish, they managed to spread it over ninety minutes too.

Thanks for warning me both.

Sort of puts this thread to bed?

They’ve just been pretty silly it seems…

I thought the same. Seems like a fairly 'normal' set of people, who weren't familiar (or well guided) with how they are meant to set up businesses and run charities, given a sudden spotlight of fame and fortune. And the news outlets lapped it up, loving the opportunity to create a bit of drama.

The whole pool/spa thing was a bit daft on their part, but personally I didn't get any real hint of the family trying to do anything nafarous with charity money or their father's name.

Captain Tom was awesome, did a great thing, the family looked after him, we all got a motivational boost, and the NHS got a ton of money which made a massive difference during COVID. That's the legacy, not all of this 'not really news' nonsense.

I’m not so sure about this. Her website describes her as an accredited life coach and motivational speaker who has developed businesses and brands of all sizes and from all over the world, and is the director of a multi-disciplined business recruitment agency. So I think her and hubby have a fair amount of business experience, which would/should be relevant to setting up and running a charity.

A roofer I know has a website that would suggest dozens of staff carrying out contracts on stately homes, industrial premises etc. In fact, it is just him! Moral: websites paint a rosy picture. He's a good guy though, so I am not suggesting that having nonsense online means a bad person.

[dukeboy749r]

Somehow or other, they as a family, via her money or the husbands, have gotten themselves a nice house, with some land into which they offered to have her dad live with them.

So far, so good.

Covid comes along, he offers to do something to 'help' raise some money/spirits, ala 'wartime feel-good' and she manages to get a lot of publicity.

Suddenly, her not-so-prominent (I am simply guessing) motivational speaking company becomes well-qualified and well-versed in running a charity, they go on to make some fairly basic/low-level 'mistakes' (decisions) some of which look decidedly dodgy (or at least in very poor taste) and here we are.

Now maybe they can sink back into obscurity from whence they came.

[Gareth79]

theboss said:

Cloudy147 said:

Captain Tom was awesome, did a great thing, the family looked after him, we all got a motivational boost, and the NHS got a ton of money which made a massive difference during COVID. That's the legacy, not all of this 'not really news' nonsense.

I read an interesting article on this recently which explained it got divided between all the trusts / NHS divisions with them each getting a sum of money that amounted to a rounding error in their operational budgets. It wasn't used to fund anything of any significance or lasting tribute, unfortunately.

It went to the "NHS Charities Together" which, as far as I know, is only used to fund patient and staff support which would not otherwise be funded by the NHS.

[dandarez]

Gareth79 said:

theboss said:

Cloudy147 said:

Captain Tom was awesome, did a great thing, the family looked after him, we all got a motivational boost, and the NHS got a ton of money which made a massive difference during COVID. That's the legacy, not all of this 'not really news' nonsense.

I read an interesting article on this recently which explained it got divided between all the trusts / NHS divisions with them each getting a sum of money that amounted to a rounding error in their operational budgets. It wasn't used to fund anything of any significance or lasting tribute, unfortunately.

It went to the "NHS Charities Together" which, as far as I know, is only used to fund patient and staff support which would not otherwise be funded by the NHS.

It did! The easily led eh? The NHS got sweet F A from Capt Tom's efforts. The elementary stuff people don't seem to know these days -
WE - that's you me and the general public - fund the NHS through taxation, always been so.

Capt Tom's money was indeed for the 'Charities' connected to the NHS. It funded ffs things like 'pop-up shops' inside hospitals, I believe some went towards a McLibels inside one hospital. You couldn't make some of this st up.

At a London major hospital a staff nurse was asked at the time of the donations what it meant to her on the wards?
She replied along the lines of 'It's absolutely great, with this shop I can now go in and grab a DIET COKE while doing my rounds.

A 'diet coke' - god help us all.

[yellowjack]

theboss said:

Cloudy147 said:

Captain Tom was awesome, did a great thing, the family looked after him, we all got a motivational boost, and the NHS got a ton of money which made a massive difference during COVID. That's the legacy, not all of this 'not really news' nonsense.

I read an interesting article on this recently which explained it got divided between all the trusts / NHS divisions with them each getting a sum of money that amounted to a rounding error in their operational budgets. It wasn't used to fund anything of any significance or lasting tribute, unfortunately.

Sadly, mainly because of the way their "mission statements" are written, a lot of the donations went on small fry stuff. After it was all divvied up between the individual NHS Trust charities it didn't amount to making a great deal of difference. At my wife's trust all staff were meant to get a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, for example, as a "gesture" (of what, I don't know). My wife never got hers. I think it also funded stuff to make life a bit "nicer" for patients who couldn't have visits, iPads, tablets, etc, so they could video-call relatives.

The whole thing grew too big for it's own good, and because of the limited scope of the initial fundraising statement it couldn't then be handed off to an established single charity where it might have actually done more good. It should never have grown beyond his local town/city/NHS Trust in its original form. Collective insanity took over, buoyed by media hysteria.

As for the clapping in the streets thing? What a load of bks. My wife worked EVERY shift she was rota'd for during the pandemic, and somehow escaped catching Covid until AFTER Covid-related illness stopped being exempt from her sickness record. She also worked extra shifts to cover for those who "caught Covid" (some nurses who got a break from the wards after they "caught Covid" came back to work with tell-tale long wooden noses ). We were the only household in the street NOT stood on our front step on pot-banging night every week. She was embarrassed by the whole charade right from the start. We didn't put a single penny into "Captain Tom's" pot neither. Mainly because we knew the limitations on how donations could be used, and we saw through that embarrassing charade too. Silly media frenzy around "old man does his daily physio, raises money for local NHS charity". Anyone taken in by it, him, or his family and their charity foundation deserves to be disappointed, because it was a monster they took a hand in creating.

Edited by yellowjack on Tuesday 14th November 15:53

[TTwiggy]

Nobody has mentioned the most heinous crime - using a junior commissioned rank as an honorific after active duty.

[yellowjack]

TTwiggy said:

Nobody has mentioned the most heinous crime - using a junior commissioned rank as an honorific after active duty.

I've wondered about that throughout the "episode of collective insanity" that "gripped the nation". As far as I'm aware you can't be a 'Captain, Retd.' - at least not in the modern military. It may have been different after war service, though? I never really bothered to dig down into the correct protocol for officers on discharge. The Knighthood was pretty ridiculous, too, given the limited scope of the donations made. I mean, yes, he drew a lot of money in, but there are folk who've worked in the charity sector for decades who've raised far less money for their chosen charities, but worked a great deal harder, for longer, and made more of an impact in their sector.

[TTwiggy]

yellowjack said:

TTwiggy said:

Nobody has mentioned the most heinous crime - using a junior commissioned rank as an honorific after active duty.

I've wondered about that throughout the "episode of collective insanity" that "gripped the nation". As far as I'm aware you can't be a 'Captain, Retd.' - at least not in the modern military. It may have been different after war service, though? I never really bothered to dig down into the correct protocol for officers on discharge. The Knighthood was pretty ridiculous, too, given the limited scope of the donations made. I mean, yes, he drew a lot of money in, but there are folk who've worked in the charity sector for decades who've raised far less money for their chosen charities, but worked a great deal harder, for longer, and made more of an impact in their sector.

I had the equivalent rank in the Andrew. I can't use it (and it would be cringe-inducing to do so anyway).

I did once have the skipper of a plastic gin palace ask me if he could hoist a blue ensign while I was on board - told him to stick to red as it draws less attention when you stuff it into the harbour wall.

[808 Estate]

[yellowjack]

TTwiggy said:

I had the equivalent rank in the Andrew. I can't use it (and it would be cringe-inducing to do so anyway).

I did once have the skipper of a plastic gin palace ask me if he could hoist a blue ensign while I was on board - told him to stick to red as it draws less attention when you stuff it into the harbour wall.

I sailed under a Blue Ensign once. "Adventurous Training" aboard a sailing yacht belonging to the Royal Engineers Sailing Club, out of Gosport. I didn't take to it, though, and never got so much as Comp. Crew out of it. Nice way to spend a few days, no doubt about it, tying up in Cowes and Poole Harbour, but relying on the wind to get us across Poole Bay was a bit of a snoozefest.

[vaud]

Courtesy of Private Eye.

[anonymous-user]

vaud said:

Courtesy of Private Eye.

Not read Private Eye in decades but that looks more the sort of thing I would expect to see in Viz!

[Halmyre]

Joey Deacon said:

vaud said:

Courtesy of Private Eye.

Not read Private Eye in decades but that looks more the sort of thing I would expect to see in Viz!

'Gnomemart' is a regular purveyor of tacky tat in the Eye. Like Franklin Mint without the, er, good taste.

[theboss]

yellowjack said:

Sadly, mainly because of the way their "mission statements" are written, a lot of the donations went on small fry stuff. After it was all divvied up between the individual NHS Trust charities it didn't amount to making a great deal of difference. At my wife's trust all staff were meant to get a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, for example, as a "gesture" (of what, I don't know). My wife never got hers. I think it also funded stuff to make life a bit "nicer" for patients who couldn't have visits, iPads, tablets, etc, so they could video-call relatives.

The whole thing grew too big for it's own good, and because of the limited scope of the initial fundraising statement it couldn't then be handed off to an established single charity where it might have actually done more good. It should never have grown beyond his local town/city/NHS Trust in its original form. Collective insanity took over, buoyed by media hysteria.

As for the clapping in the streets thing? What a load of bks. My wife worked EVERY shift she was rota'd for during the pandemic, and somehow escaped catching Covid until AFTER Covid-related illness stopped being exempt from her sickness record. She also worked extra shifts to cover for those who "caught Covid" (some nurses who got a break from the wards after they "caught Covid" came back to work with tell-tale long wooden noses ). We were the only household in the street NOT stood on our front step on pot-banging night every week. She was embarrassed by the whole charade right from the start. We didn't put a single penny into "Captain Tom's" pot neither. Mainly because we knew the limitations on how donations could be used, and we saw through that embarrassing charade too. Silly media frenzy around "old man does his daily physio, raises money for local NHS charity". Anyone taken in by it, him, or his family and their charity foundation deserves to be disappointed, because it was a monster they took a hand in creating.

Edited by yellowjack on Tuesday 14th November 15:53

Thank god for living rural.

I remember picking up a curry one Thursday night (when all the restaurants were closed but they could sell takeaways) quite late in the first covid season and there being a round of applause as I walked outside and got in my car.... and it honestly took me a few moments to realise what was going on because I had read about it but didn't realise it was still happening months later. Luckily it was the only time I had to bear witness to this behaviour, and it was completely stark raving mental.

[Jasandjules]

theboss said:

Luckily it was the only time I had to bear witness to this behaviour, and it was completely stark raving mental.

The stupid were easily fooled. And controlled.

[Ari]

Jasandjules said:

theboss said:

Luckily it was the only time I had to bear witness to this behaviour, and it was completely stark raving mental.

The stupid were easily fooled. And controlled.

And it turned out that there are an awful lot of them!

[vaud]

Ari said:

Jasandjules said:

theboss said:

Luckily it was the only time I had to bear witness to this behaviour, and it was completely stark raving mental.

The stupid were easily fooled. And controlled.

And it turned out that there are an awful lot of them!

The behavioural psychology aspects will be studied for decades. The messaging and the supporting comms were possibly the most effective campaign in history to change the behaviour of a nation overnight.

I'm not going to argue the merits or otherwise as it is a hugely divisive topic but the sheer shift from daily normal life to "stay at home" - and the adherence to it - was remarkable.