Do they care if it's Christmas?

And the stress on the headline should be "care".  Do they CARE?  Do they *care*?  Do they......-well you get the point, I hope.

I remember the first Band Aid hysteria way back in 1984 - I was a mere 13 and quite ignorant about where Ethiopia actually was and what the issues of food management were back then.  I mean let's be honest, the "dark continent" was a whole world away and bereft of any meaningful input to the world economy - wasn't it?!  I jest (in bad taste) of course - but nonetheless, sitting in my orange and brown living room of the mid 80s with Thatcher on her gilded throne and the miners' strike in full swing, there were perhaps a few hot topics vying for the social conscience of a pubescent teenager.

I didn't buy the single - despite George Michael singing his lungs out and Boy George giving it good face.

I didn't sense the need to donate my pocket money despite the image of flies hovering around the face of young child who hadn't eaten for days being projected every tea-time on our telly.

I didn't (in all honesty) think my 20p or 50p would actually get to where it was supposed to and didn't really think it would make any bloody difference either.

That was then and this is now.

The backlash our dear well-intentioned Bob Geldof (KBE) has unleashed recently with a re-recording of the famous hit in 2014 for West Africa Ebola sufferers is perplexing, understandable, symptomatic and disingenuous all at the same time.

Perplexing because I fail to understand the venom with which people have challenged the whole concept as condescending.

Understandable because the world has moved on and we're more aware; we're more critical; we expect people to do more for themselves and appreciate that actually the vast majority of folks don't want handouts.

Symptomatic of a liberal post-colonial unburdening of guilt that many Europeans feel necessary - often despite and in total neglect of the rather insidious occupation of the continent of Africa by Chinese clamours for natural resources.

And perhaps most disconcertingly, disingenuous because I challenge the critics to offer an alternative, to demonstrate what they have done, or to give credit (however misplaced) where it's due.

We live in an imperfect world with imperfect solutions delivered by imperfect institutions and individuals - but I applaud those who try; lament the fact more people don't try; and challenge those who may read this to try a bit harder.