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 mean, tight-fisted curmudgeons the better-off Victorians were? No Victorian would need telling this, but the point about Scrooge was that he was exceptional. When two men come round asking him to donate to help the poor and he famously replies "Are there no workhouses?" the men find it hard to believe he is not going to give. It was expected that people of means would give to the poor in those times.
The reason we give a pittance compared to the Victorians is that in the era of the welfare state we feel we have contracted out our giving. The government has taken over responsibility for looking after the poor and we don't want to give twice. The downside of this arrangement is that the state has shown itself outstandingly wasteful in doling out our money.
Which brings us to the goats. The government may be bad at welfare but we are becoming increasingly aware that charities are not that reliable either. We have seen great sums of money spent on silly advertisements and hear tell of charities that,
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| Scrooge was the exception. It was expected that those of means would give to the poors |
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instead of actually doing good, spend our donations lobbying the government to spend our taxes in a different way.
We are right to be careful about charitable giving. The Victorians were very thoughtful about it. We should be both more generous and more selective. There is little point helping an NHS hospital to buy a new operating theatre if it is going to stand idle for long periods of time because the hospital trust is in deficit and has to save money.
One key to good giving these days, is to choose those charities which have as little as possible to do with government. My own personal dream is to be involved in creating a new charitable clinic or hospital wholly outside governmental control. In the meantime, charities must learn to be careful what they do with my money, or the goat will get it this Christmas. 
James Bartholomew is the author of The Welfare State We're In (Politico's, £18.99)
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go back...page 2 of 2
