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Tuesday Apr 29, 2008
Which list would you rather be on?
Last weekend saw eager fundraisers all over the UK buying the Times on Sunday, with a view to schmoosing the UK's rich list and securing some major gifts. No surprises there – the number one entry (Lakshmi Patel and family) is worth £27,700 million, or 27,700,000,000 pounds written in its full glory. Obviously, a donation equal to a tiny fraction of this wealth would make a huge difference to pretty much any charity you care to mention, and no doubt Major Donor fundraisers are poring over the list as I type.
At the same time, The Independent ran an interesting alternative to the "Rich List" – with the slightly unimaginative title of the "Happy List". They selected their entries according to how well they excelled in the following areas: Mental well-being, Physical health, Philanthropy, Charity, Pleasure, Environment, Innovation, Volunteers/time givers, Community service, Entertainment .
I applaud the move away from the growing trend of using wealth as an indicator of happiness, although if I'm being picky I do find some of the choices slightly bewildering. Seeing the two lists together does pose the question – which one would you rather be on?
Perhaps the real winners are those that feature on both, for example Sir Tom Hunter, who is worth £1,050 million, has pledged to give £1 billion to charity and is quoted as saying "Philanthropy is the only motivator to continue making money".
Posted by Sam Thomas ( 3:44 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]