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The Spectator Podcast: Bad charity

On this week’s episode, we look at the Oxfam aid scandal and whether charities do more harm than good. We also tackle the controversial practice of stop-and-search before sampling some of the alcohol-free delights than might keep you off the booze this Lent.

The news cycle for the past week has been dominated by revelations about the charity Oxfam, with senior figures implicated in ‘sex for aid’ bartering in crisis zones. Figures from Minnie Driver to Desmond Tutu have quit roles at the beleaguered charity, but bigger questions are being raised about how foreign aid is spent. In the magazine this week, Harriet Sergeant looks at the behaviour of international charities, whilst Mary Wakefield sees systemic abuse by NGO workers repeating itself again and again. To discuss, we were joined on the podcast by Jonathan Foreman, senior research fellow at Civitas and author of Aiding and Abetting, and Deborah Doane, who has worked in the development sector for over 20 years.

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