Donating to charity is too easy

It’s been a torrid few weeks for anyone who knows anyone who was running in the London Marathon. In have come the emails sent by the sender to himself or herself, and BCC’d no doubt to a very long list of the sender’s friends: ‘I’m running the London Marathon on 21 April, for [insert name of charity]. I’d be so pleased if you could sponsor me for this worthy cause. You’ll find my page on [JustGiving, or other similar websites]’ and a link is supplied.

I’ve received a few of these and in fact been pleased to help. I know what runners go through, and I wholeheartedly approve of charitable giving. So, you may ask, what’s not to like about this growing practice? Oh I don’t know, but there’s something almost – well – industrial about the giving industry these days.