Sunday, February 13, 2005

Should Lottery Fund target disadvantaged groups?

It appears that the Lottery Fund is going wet behind the ears and only supporting "Disadvantaged Groups" according to The Times. The only disadvantaged group of people in the UK these days are the Middle classes. They tend to pay far more tax than most others yet manage to disqualify themselves from obtaining any benefits as they "Earn too much" and can therefore pay for the service themselves. As they tend to be better educated and healthier, they are not a net drain on the public purse at any time in their lives. It would therefore be refreshing if once in a while, they would qualify for a grant for one of their pet activities, whether it is a Scount hut or not.

As to never having funded the RNLI, it can be one of the few truly worthy causes that the Lottery Fund could support as they really do save lives. Presumably the Lottery Fund takes the view that if people need to be rescued from a sinking pleasure craft, they are middle class and should fund their own rescue services.

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