and we simply ignore the whole thing.

For some people, it's the most fun they have all year.

I work from home, so nobody will see me, but even so.

I'm dressing as Eva Mendes for the day.

I'm all for the odd wacky day in the office, breaks up the monotony. And the donations go to a pretty good cause.

Thankfully I'm at home today - so dressed as Arthur Dent.

The grief I got one Comic Relief for not turning up at work with 'bad hair' - it just depressed me all day. You are right - just 'cos Wogan or Henry or Fearne Flipping Cotton encourages you it doesn't make it right. And if you patiently explain that you give money to charity all year round (I do, not much, but I give what I can afford) you just get a roll of the eyes.

I'm not feeling funny or wacky or zany today - I can't turn it on and off at will - leave me alone. Might be my T-shirt slogan of choice.

As someone now glad to be out of a job and the office, one thing on top of my list of "what I don't miss" is this enforced jollity and wackiness that comes around this day. If you don't get something shaved or at least give a pound then you're the anti Christ.
What sickens me even more is the recent exposure of the expenses the BBC claim for this day: flowers and thank you cards to the "stars". Those people just must be laughing at us as we give up our money.
Does anyone know how much goes on expenses whenever they do one of these?
In this time of senseless conflict they'll probably also show footage of some army fundraising in Helmad province. Just think of what we could do for the children there if.....ah but it's too late for poor malformed babies of Faluja

that I should give my spare cash to Pudsey simply because the BBC, Sir Tel and a host of others slebs tell me to. Or that not doing so makes me some kind of scrooge. As per Gatz above, I prefer to make my donations anonymously but also to charities I choose, for reasons I choose, by monthly standing order and with the tax relief box ticked.

It's a good cause, it's fun etc: yes, I fully agree. But charity isn't a once a year, salve your conscience with donation to a charity selected by someone else jobbie.

Children in Need invariably had me phoning in sick. God I hate it. Is it CIN or comic relief which has news readers making plonkers of themselves? I hate them both.

One good thing though, is the pub beckons...

I am still surprised that Terry Wogan was not given a lot more stick over the revelation that he alone among the celebs charged (does he still ?) an appearance fee.

And don't get me started on the cast of that vile prog 'stenders showing what jolly multi-talented entertainers they are actually by cracking a smile and a caterwaul for charidee.

I think Wogan is a marvellous broadcaster, but the revelation that he was pocketing £10,000 to front CIN was hilarious. On his radio show, he bangs on about Children in Need constantly, and he continually thanks people for giving 10 or 20 quid - when he earned not far off half the average yearly wage for one night's emotive guilt-tripping!

...of any of the slebs sending their fees to the benighted sodden residents of Cumbria at all? No??

and I'm not about to give in now. I've got a standing order with Unicef instead.

lasted double posts.

...if everyone's so wholehearedly behind it, and everyone should contribute, and the causes are undeniably deserving, why not, instead of today's ghastly spectacle, pay for these things through taxes, like we used to do?

That it raises a great deal of money that would otherwise go unraised and that goes to a worthy cause*. It's all very well people saying that they give to charity in other ways and in a way suited to them. Great. I'm really pleased you do. But most people who give a few quid when prompted by Children in Need or Comic Relief probably don't give anything like as much the rest of the year.

And if some people have fun in raising money I don't see the harm. Yes you wouldn't want to do it, I wouldn't want to do it. And we can say, slightly condescendingly, that it's the most fun those people have all year but if it raises money that would otherwise not go to any charity, I can put up with people making annoying arses of themselves.

Having said all that, I do get irritated by Wogan's all year round mention of the event and by the fact that he gets paid for doing it. And I hate the bloody awful auction of things that money can't buy which only makes me realise that there are some people with more money than they know what to do with and that I really should look up that membership form for Class War.

* I heard a trail this morning of kids who've been helped to cope with bullyind through Kidscape which is one of the charities helped by CIN. If paying someone in a fright wig prompts me to hand over a fiver to stop even one child being driven to suicide by bullying then I think that's a small price to pay.

If it's what people want to do then it's fine. Fortunately being at a quite large company it's quite easy to avoid this type of thing. What I find most annoying for some unfathomable reason is that the people taking part somehow seem to think that everyone else knows all about what's going on etc I don't think I'd really been aware it was even going on until yesterday. It's a very BBC-centric thing and even as a 6Music listener it had passed me by (I don't think they get involved).
What struck me today when I passed a couple of things going on is how many working hours must be lost because of it. If I was the employer I think I'd rather tot up the hours expected to be lost and pay that sum to a charity and hope that everyone gets on with their work as usual.

it was 'almost' bearable. (No pun intended)

In yesteryear, you knew you could go out for one evening a year and miss the enforced jollity.

Now, it's everywhere for so long beforehand. The auctions, the televised concerts, the bizarre celeb-infested TV programmes, the constant plugs on radio.

Fortunately, I've got Series 2 of True Blood on illegal download to watch ;o)

But I think Jesus had it just about right:

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

In other words, do it quietly, don't twat around in a bear suit, and don't use it as an opportunity to revive your wortless d-list celebrity career.

Here endeth the lesson.

to CIN as they'll probably just stuff the cash into an Iclandic bank. Also, I find Wogan's 20 grand appearance fee and Keilty's five grand suit allowance somewhat distasteful. That's more than I earn in a year combined.