Comic Relief 2005

44% of you watched some of the Comic Relief Red Nose Day coverage on BBC1 on Friday 11th March. Half of you donated money to the charity this year, of which 14% made a donation over the phone, 10% made a donation online and 76% donated by another method e.g. a collection tin/bucket, sponsoring someone in an event, buying a red nose. In fact, 23% of you bought a Comic Relief "hairy" red nose this year.

African Ambassador

We asked who you thought was the best "ambassador" in terms of promoting the global campaign to eradicate extreme poverty in Africa. Number one choice was Nelson Mandela, with 39% of the vote, followed by Bob Geldof with 27% and Bono (U2) with 13%. In contrast, very few thought that Tony Blair (2%) or Gordon Brown (3%) made good global ambassadors for poverty reduction.

Corruption

One major barrier to donating money to African charities is that of corruption. We asked you whether the issue of corruption put you off giving money to charities for use in African projects, and 39% said you were put off as the money would probably end up in the wrong hands. However, 52% of you recognised that corruption was a serious problem in Africa, but said that this would not stop you donating to African causes.

Regime Change

The welfare of African citizens in some African nations is often overlooked by their political leaders, such as Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. 22% of you thought that in African countries where leaders are acting against the interests of their citizens there should "definitely" be enforced regime change, with a further 43% saying "maybe" this was a good idea. However, 10% strongly opposed intervention in African regimes by foreign powers.

Debt "Gift"

We asked about your willingness to pay a one-off, once-in-a-lifetime lump-sum to enable governments to totally write of the debts of the poorest African nations. 61% said you’d be willing to pay a one-off lump-sum to end debt, with the mean amount volunteered being around £250 each (but amongst the 18-24s it was closer to £350). However, 31% said you wouldn’t pay a lump sum for this purpose.

We then asked whether you had any comments you'd like to share with us about Africa, in terms of poverty, foreign aid or Comic Relief. We had in total over 800 detailed comments, but we only have space here to reprint a few of them:

"I have family in Zimbabwe and have visited there twice. It is a very beautiful country and could be totally amazing if the world would act against Mugabe in the way they have against Saddam and the Taliban. People live in oppression there as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq but the world doesn't seem to want to help the people of Africa, who don't have basic facilities like running water, electricity, decent food. The people of Iraq had good facilities and a decent quality of life"

"Why does everything come down to us? I already have crippling student debt, massive council tax bills and no hope of getting on to the property ladder any time soon, will have no pension and live a life of poverty as an elderly member of society. Do you really think I can afford to be bothered about this issue?"

And Finally...

"This year's red noses were uncomfortable to wear"