Oh to be in the position to give away £1bn - but good on you Sir Tom.

I think we should be even more impressed with one of the large donations given away in 2006 - specifically 2. CHRIS HOHN, hedge fund manager, 40, worth £ 150m. Donated £ 230m

Now that's good accounting!

Well done Sir Tom, please look at libraries the ones donated by Carnegie are shutting to the detriment of folks .........

I've always liked Tom Hunter. Hope he remembers that. Never said a bad word against him lovely bloke.

Create the wealth - spread the wealth. Would that many others in the super-rich bracket followed the example of Sir Tom.

In the same week we learn that the rich-poor divide has grown ever wider, it takes someone like this self-made man to show us that we can still rise above our beginnings and then help those who can't!

I don't much hold with the honours system, but Tom Hunter and Tom Farmer are two men who absolutely deserve to be recognised for their beginnings and subsequent careers, as well as their charitable work!

I don't think this will go doon well with some Embra posters who give the impression the homeless of the city centre should be herded into concentration camps.

Good news, and just at the time when Scotlands` people are trying to recover their exisiting Common Good which includes many assets left by the last wave of philanthropists to their communities
http://eh8.org.uk/common_good_0
http://www.andywightman.com/commonweal/commongood.html

he hasn't given away a penny yet.

excuse my scepticism but its not news till it has happened, he merely intends to give it all away and plan to take yeas to do it, drip drip goes the ineffectual self publisist.

if it was real philanthropy then he wouldnt need and article (or indeed a tv program) to advertise it

he would have simply done it with no fan fare

still good on the man for at least promising something nobody else has

At least he's not giving it to the Republican party

Why tell everyone? Why not just do it?

Also he says being a philanthopist makes him better at thinking up ways of making money to give away. Most of the companies I have worked in where they have made huge profits have been at the expense of the health of the employees not the management. So are we going to see money invested, he said he expects to see a return, in people but at the expense of their mental and physical wellbeing. Sorry but parts of this story simply don't seem to hang together. I am always wary of people who preach to others about how they can help themselves when luck played a huge part in their own fortunes. I always remember Branson saying that he baulked at people calling him a great businessman because for every success he had ten failures and we just didn't get to hear about them. Honesty like that is rare and that is why we don't hear Branson pointing the way, he admits he doesn't know the way. Someone once asked who gave the most, the old woman who gave everything she had, a few pennies, or the rich man who went out of his way to be seen giving only a proportion of his wealth, ...... the answer is the same now as it was then.

This endless self promotion is I beleive undignified.It would be better to donate quietly and without this constant drum beating.

As for Andrew Carnegie he was a disgrace to humanity and treated his workers very harshly.

Excuse me, Headline news on the BBC! - Insanely rich ex-trainer salesman pledges to donate headline grabbing "£1Billion".

Speaking from his sunny tax haven Sir Tom babbles about "with great wealth comes great responsibility", then seen hobnobbing with discredited ex-President who did little if anything to help Africa in the 8 years he was the most powerful man in the world.

I have to join the sceptics. This is a pledge to give away tax efficient future money, and is not a man giving up the trappings of wealth. Sir Tom will continue to jet around the world burning up more than his fair share of ozone in a quest to ease his conscience. The money will continue to come from his exploitation of the capitalist system. I don't know his situation in detail but if he is anything like other venture capitalists he will be paying less personal tax than a single mother on benefits.

Now Sir Tom wants to be the king of garden gnomes and kitcsh by buying up Dobbies and dissing Tescos.

Don't get me wrong, it's great that someone from the Super-Rich mob is giving some money to needy causes, but surely it is the job of Governments to ensure equality, both at home and abroad.

To put the £1Billion in perspective, it could just about buy the equivalent of 2 of those cranky buildings at the bottom of the Royal Mile.

I agree we philanthropists should be modest. My self and Lady Rules have quietly given away millions and not told anyone. Even our neighbours don't know our helicopters are really spreading charity, not pollution. I must have a word with young Tom at our next private charity dinner in Gleneagles.

Well said #10.
Carnegie was the epitomy of deluded duplicity. Screw it out of people in a vicious business attitude, give it away as a ticket to heaven and posterity when you find you can't spend it.
So TomH started with 'nothing" - just 5k from his parents and the same from the Bank ... wish I'd been able to raise 10k at graduation. Would RBS lend to a graddie wth a loan to repay?

There's something about Garden Gnomes, Barry Manilow and trainers-to-Paisley that belongs together. Can't put my finger on it....

A touch of the "Ah kent his faither" about some of the posts so far, particularly #13. Well, I ken his faither, lovely man, as is Tom, who, as well as his public donations has quietly helped one or two small good causes in New Cumnock.

He's a great man, doing great work, leave him to get on with it, here is a real Scottish success story we ought to celebrate.

#15 Well said.

Why do people have to drag up negatives about what is an incredibly positive story?? So many people will benefit because of this so good on Sir Tom I say.

As for the fact that he's taking on Tesco in the war for Dobbies - I hope he wins, I really do. Somebody needs to stop them trying to take over the world and if anybody can do it it's oor Tom!

Used to work for him when he took over Olympus Sport and rebranded it Sports Division, went from the best job I had to the worst overnight , reduction in pay , increase in hours, no overtime , pension abolished !!!!!!, A true caring boss ! Creating more poor people,its guys like him that ruined the High Street , got no time for him, thanks for everything Tom , NOT !!

Good man.

God I can't believe some of the posts on here, at least he is actually going to donate cash to charities unlike most of our so-called celebrities who appear at Live Aid, Red Nose Day etc who graciously don't charge an appearance fee !!!
What is with this country that we have to always find negatives about everything

OK, so he started off with a silver-plated spoon in his mouth and had a clear run, but the point is that he made a go of the opportunities he had. There are plenty of others who had every chance in the world and still managed to mess up their lives.

I don't grudge Tom Hunter his success, but I still think of all the others with his innate abilities who could never get off the ground on account of being brought up with physical handicaps, dependent relatives, broken families, delinquent milieus, family scandals and breadline financial situations, etc. And not everyone has the safety net to help overcome repeated setbacks.

Nonetheless, honour where it is due, and if I were in Tom Hunter's position my action list would not be very different from his. The one thing I do envy him is the power to implement it.

Not giving away, giving back.

19

Unfortunately one of Scotland's greatest weaknesses is to snipe at other people more successful than yourself.

Well done Mr Hunter - this is being announced, because it might encourage other rich people to stop and look outward at how the few can help the many.

Jeez, the envy on show this morning.

Capitalism generates great wealth for all (for example the technology you are using to read this post), but freedom also provides opportunities for the talented/driven/lucky to generate massive wealth out-of-the-norm.

It matters little what they do with this wealth. If it was forcibly redistributed it would make little difference to mine or your standard of living (about 41p each year over my working life time, I give £2800 EACH MONTH to the government to waste). But to see Sir Tom supporting wealth creation and opportunity is truly inspiring.

He should be congratulated. He has a platform, and he is using it for good.

#7 - "Not given away a penny yet"? Did you read the article? Are you even capable of reading? He gave away £30 million last year.

What to do with lots of money is one of those conversations we have in our household just in case we ever win the lottery. I'm afraid that giving money to charities doesn't ever come up.

Investing in some of the worthy start-ups that struggle to raise even modest amounts of risk equity capital is what I'd do. Providing the opportunity to someone to create his or her own business, employ others and contribute positively to the growth of the nation seems to me to be a worthy thing to do.

Fair play to him. He's worked hard and it's not an ego move.

The world could do with a few more people becoming their brothers keeper (within reason!)

Mr Hunter does have an important focus. I think he should be harrasing world leaders like he used to harass jean buyers at jeanster princess st. Can I help you, as soon as you walked through the door(i hadn't even made up my mind by then!)

Some of that tenacity would be good for us all.

I would like to see him doing a bit of work in Scotland first. A few activity lead initiatives for deprived areas, drug addiction / rehab help or buddy schemes? Business creation schemes/workshops for deprived areas.He has all the assets and experience to engender that same spirit that exists in lots of people in deprived areas, only they lack the resources and focus he could bring.

I only started of by to say fair play!
ramble over.

Africa still needs help, don't get me wrong. But

He could also harrass the types like tesco etc to become their communities keepers also?

In essence it's up too the people who can to help the people who can't. That applies to each of us as an individual.

Local business in deprived areas. With businesses formed then donating a percentage of profit too a kitty thereafter. Thus perpertuating the goodness, forever more.

I donate a percentage of my businesses profit to charity. For what it's worth. Last year I bought a shedload of fishing nets for africa, and paid for some kids to do the west highland way. Saves it going to a mortgage! Despite living in a council hoose :-). We can all make a wee difference.

Just as tescos should sell localy produced , we should also try to buy localy made or produced.

I learned when I was wee. Who gave more? the wee old woman with nothing , who gaver her last 10p or the man with billions who gives away 1 million?

The doods just up scaling it, inline with inflation and his financial position! So he is really giving a lot of himself also.

Man I sound like a tamboreen banger!

Great! £1bn should just about cover the cost of the Embra trams! :)

This is great news - I sadly can beleive that people slag him off - ugly jealousy.

As for keeping a lid on it - it is quite difficult to give away £1bn without anyone noticing - and what about the positive message he send out to society? Kids will look at this and hopefully beleive they can emulate him, whilst other rich folk might think twice about simply passing their cash to their children.

Well done Sir Tom!

So the attitude of this board seems to be "we hate the way you made your money, even without knowing how, we don't want you or it but we will moan and gripe about it until you give it all away. Then we will comment about what an pig you were to anyone who benefited from it."
I think yo are doing the right thing...tell everyone you are giving it away thus embarrassing those who don't and making those who need aware that it is there for them.

This is a good news story. Why do you cynics have to knock it?

A sound man! Can't beleive all the negativity here!

And Pilrig (#5), I am from Edinburgh and happen to beleive that the homeless on the streets should be accommodated in Holyrood Palace - not herded into concentration camps!

21. Heidegger, Sweat Shop / 8:59am 18 Jul 2007 Not giving away, giving back.

Quite right. His fortune was made off the sweat of exploited workers (including CHILDREN) who manufacture sportswear in Asia.

It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle right enough. I doubt if Tom's God will be so easily hoodwinked into letting him into Heaven.

Well said #15 and #16. Dr Mike at #11 is by far the bitterest man in the living room. "Don't get me wrong." Don't worry Dr Mike we got you exactly right, you're just one of many other negative people commenting here who have to try and find fault in everything. Why do you care if Tom Hunter gets some publicity for this? You try donating £1billion and keeping it quiet.

it's good that he is considering his life, why he is doing it is between him and his maker.

i do have wonder when much is made of the giving. i believe the model is "do not let your left hand know what your right hand gives" and he who gives with the knowledge of all has received his reward.

but in the end it's not a bad thing that money is made available to meet the needs of the needy

Firstly, Well Done Sir Tom!

Philanthropy is alive and well - never been into stamp collecting myself!!!

Secondly, the rich already give away huge sums to needier bods with the rather unfair Death Duties, and with the ridiculous price of housing it won't just be the rich.

To all the snipers out there - put your own money where your mouth is or simply shut it!

Not Africa, the problems here are caused by corruption and war. Do not give any more cash until the Governments are sorted out. There is plenty on money in Africa from oil & minerals. Just that most is being spent in Harrods on handbags for the wives of scum.

2. CHRIS HOHN, hedge fund manager, 40, worth £ 150m. Donated £ 230m

Now THATS a hedge fund !

If everyone in Scotland gave £1 every week to a National Venture Fund to invest in people trying to start new companies, develop new ideas etc we'd soon be a very wealthy nation.

The point about Tom Hunter's success is that he took a risk that paid off. It wasn't however a risk that required a lot of external capital. With absolutely no disrespect to him because I think the boy did good,starting a business selling sports gear is relatively - I stress relatively - easy.

Starting a company that makes things is a lot more difficult and often requires a lot more capital up front. Although it is getting a bit better it is still not easy to raise capital for this sort of company yet it is generally the "makers of things" that provide the skilled jobs.

In Scotland we need to provide more of these kinds of jobs to develop a more balanced economy. Not long ago on one of these forums I said - albeit tongue in cheek - that if you wanted to help alleviate poverty in Glasgow then build a car factory.

Interestingly I recently got sent a press release about a small Norwegian company that's building electric "City" cars telling me they've just raised around £30m in investment capital. They're now advertising for all sorts of skilled people to help grow the company.

CARNEGIE HAD NINE WORKERS SHOT DEAD BY HIS OWN PRIVATE POLICE FORCE DURING A STEEL STRIKE IN AMERICA.

To the knockers - when did you last get off your backside for anyone else but yourself?

1 Billion placed in the foundation will enable 10 million in interest alone to be paid out annually to causes that seek to achieve the aim of giving all these NEETS or is it NEDS a sense of society and a positive role in it.

Government can't do it - they do not know how and have too many vested interests. Teachers in these areas of social deprivation will tell you if the kids are not engaged by the age of 7 then they are lost. It is not 'poverty' that is the problem it is social deprivation - in that they have no hope and come from families and peer groups that tell them they have no hope.

To break this endless cycle we need to give the current under 18's back the ability to take opportunities and that takes a different approach from current education practise and needs non governmental organisations to take the lead.

Now all you whingers why not see and take the opportunity offered by Sir Tom to improve the lot of many young people rather than your stereotypical responses.

Here's just one of many ways to help: www.rotary1020.org.uk/ryla.asp

Keep it up Sir Tom - how many of you snipers out there give anything LIKE the proportion of your earnings like this man, and the others mentioned are.
And as for Andrew Carnegie being a 'disgrace to humanity' - you cannot judge other generations by our own moral standards re workers rights or anything else. He was a hard nosed businessman who did what very few other of his ilk have done - give the money - ALL of the money - back to the neediest in society... Oh, and no, he DIDN'T do it to get into heaven (#13) Carnegie was doing this, not as many religious people do, as a means of toadying to a god, but because it was morally right. He was an atheist. "I don’t believe in God. My god is patriotism. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life."

Used to be worth 280M :-)

#42 - Carnegie was in Scotland at the time -Carnegie was in favour of labour unions. He condemned the use of strikebreakers and told associates that "no steel mill was worth a single drop of blood." The battle was not his and may have been started by either side - the unions had armed hundreds of men with rifles and even a cannon.... For a fair view see wikipedia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike

For everyone who moans that papers only publish bad news - you have just been proved wrong.

ND #39. I made some money in Africa. My wife has a bag from Harrods. Now come up here and call me scum to my face.

#47 I think #39 was reffering to African dictators of the Mugabe ilk rather than say oil or construction workers who work in Africa.
If you are an African dictator however (can't say i've heard the name) the remark was firmly meant for you.

WELL SAID 15,

WHY DO WE SCOTS ALWAYS TRY TO (CAU FOLK DOON.)

FROM WHAT I READ HIS FATHER SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN A VERY GOOD INFLUENCE IN HIS LIFE.

THOSE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE LIFE OF ROBERT BURNS WILL ALSO KNOW THAT IT WAS THE INFLUENCE OF BURNS FATHER IN GETTING HIM AS GOOD AN EDUCATION AS HE COULD AFFORD IS WHAT GAVE US THE GREAT POET THAT SCOTS CAN BE PROUD OF.

I WISH TOM A VERY HAPPY AND LONG LIFE TO SEE THE FRUITS OF ALL HE TRYS TO ACHEIVE FOR HIS FELLOW MAN.

no 44
Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.

What on earth do you mean?

Please respond

50

Michael, seems straightforward to me.

Dr. Mike (no. 11) is wrong.
The government squanders money as it has neither the brains nor the experience to micro-manage our tax money. You can be damn certain Sir T is not going to be throwing money at projects and hoping for the best. Giving it away will achieve much more than handing it over to HM's government to squander on domes, chronic buildings in Edinburgh, sporting events and massaging unemployment figures. Good on you Sir T. You'll no doubt sort out our brain dead politicians when you arrive at the House of Lords.

I was going to say that I'd invest the money by buying Scotland 100 years worth of free ganja. Then I did the sums and realised £1 billion would only work out at about 2 ounces per person. That's probably why I'm not a billionaire, eh?

#41 Dick. Exactly.

Shut up!

I make no apologies for condemning this fat cats gesture of £1billion. If he can afford to give out that amount then he is earning far, far too much money. I don't care how hard he has worked and how successful he has been, no human being should be able to accumulate that amount of money for providing a service to customers. Hunter has taken advantage of a rotten outdated system that divides the ultra rich from ordinary hard working people. Hunter stands for everything I am opposed to - the excesses of capatilism - I am dedicated to getting rid of the system that creates rewards far in excess of the working contribution to society and at the same time banish the need for charity and hand outs from Carnegie to Hunter.

#55 Sedov!

You're another one. Shut it! If you want to be a weirdo commie bugger off to China or somewhere mental like that.

I can has monee pleez?

It is very laudable to 'give' globally, in whatever context, and I applaud anyone who does.
However what about the old adage that 'Charity begins at Home?'
I keep hearing, in every aspect of the media, that the number of people/children living in Scotland below the poverty line is ever increasing. Are any home grown philanthropist addressing this at the moment?
Perhaps also if bosses distributed more of their businesse's profits to the workers and less to the sharholders, this might reduce the imbalance?
I also hope someone keeps a good eye on, e.g.(reputable Auditors) the administration cost of Sir Tom's charities. The staff salaries and running costs sometimes negate the monies given, ergo the Lion's share once again goes to the fatter cats!!

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article334...

Excellent that he is doing this, excellent how he earned the wealth to do it. Interesting that he's involved with Clinton, of all people, but that's his business.
Amazing the posts that have popped up over this including one who wants to destroy the system that allows people to accumulate wealth! Seems they need to read a little bit of history here- or perhaps they should head on to the USSR?
Hunter personifies the attitude that used to prevail in Scotland pre-welfare state and was the driving force in the US - the individualism and entrepreneurial spirit that made it the strongest nation on earth- something that Clinton and his ilk are now trying to tear down.( Thus the curiosity of his joining with Clinton who is probably trying to restore his "legacy")

Leaving the whole issue of the obscene amounts of money some people can make, and the huge and increasing gaps between rich and poor, it can only be a good thing that the very rich give something back (especially the ones that like to avoid paying taxes), although it may only be the equivalent of me giving away £100 of my 'fortune'. I'd rather see higher taxation all round, but good for you Tom for doing something tangible, unlike so many of those hugely wealthy 'celebrities' (the lothesome Beckhams spring to mind) who seem to think putting their name to a cause for a fee and free publicity is charitable and deserving of recognition.

My only small grip from Tom's interview was why did he feel it necessary to wheel out the old "I'm Scottish so I don't like giving money away" garbage? Christ we're probably one of the most generous nations in the world, why continually put ourselves down? Grrrrrr.

#10 #13

Pair of winging losers

maybe start slagging him off next time you drop a lazy few million into a charirty box

55

Sedov, capitalism won.

Sedov says "I am dedicated to getting rid of the system that creates ,,, yakkity yak blah de blah de blah .. bore bore bore".

Grow up.

Like Sedov; I have fought all my life against the most evil of all evil previous societies; present day Capitalism. Millions have been slaughtered since Cromwell paved the way for its advancement. Our present day society is rotten when you see inividuals getting up to £200.000 a week for kicking a ball around while we still have poor people, and many homeless along with people dying from curable diseases because the drugs capable off extending their lives are too expensive. There is no need for any human being on our planet to be deprived of the basic necessities of life. The beneficiaries of the exploitive society we now live are in the main legalised crooked shareholders, fat cat directors and the gamblers dealing in Wall Street and the Stock exchanges globally who live a parisitical life-style on the proceeds they receive from the very people whom they legally rob when employing them. How many of these rich parasites ever shoulder a gun in the wars of exploitation they create that enables them to mass their ill-gotten gains? Being originally an Ayrshire man myself; I at least grudgingly give Mr Hunter some praise for his promise to put most off his money too good use in helping society in future years. £

Good for you Sir Tom you made your money in an honest manner and not by dealing in DRUGS as so many others have

55, Sedov

North Korea
Cuba
USSR
Berlin Wall
Adolf Hitler (National Socialist)
Romania
Pol Pot
Ural Sea
Tony Blair
etc etc etc

How do the facts feel? Or are we all just mistaken about these episodes of history and socialism - the state and the masses before the individual - is actually all fine and dandy.

66

Wattie, capitalism won.

OK some of the critical comments on here are 'whingeing', but many of them raise valid points. If you announce a move like this, and claim that you intend to 'eradicate world poverty', then it is only fair that others may question whether you are part of the problem in the first place rather than part of the solution. If his wealth derives from 'successful' companies which exploited poor people in the developing world (let's face it, not too many trainers out there are not manufactured by kids in appalling conditions on slave wages), and from reducing workers' pay, pensions and other rights, then what, exactly, has he done to reduce poverty? Most people on here think governments are not up to the task, and they may be right - but it doesn't mean that Sir Tom is any more apt for it either. After all, did Carnegie succeed? Do all those libraries he funded mean that illiteracy in the US has disappeared? Erm, no.

shut it you wingers,,good on you mate for giving the money away, and i think you should shout it from the roof tops,.

also tom do remember that night i lent you a tenner, well if you can see your way ,, much obliged..

70

md1970, so is Farmer's proposed donation a good thing or a bad thing?

md1970,

"slave wages), and from reducing workers' pay, pensions"

Slave wages is an oxymoron.

As for reducing worker's pay and pension, I can't imagine people in Bangladesh ever had much and a pension to be begin with.

What Sir Tom and others did was allow the poor of the world to compete with the rich, and with that trade, their economies have improved and will improve further.

Much that the conditions in the third world are distastful, they are a means to an end. In the same way our forefathers worked in far less ideal conditions so that we could enjoy a better quality of life today.

I imagine if we could ask them if it was worth working hard for benefit of future generations, they would still say yes. The alternative for them was grinding poverty anyway with no improvement for the future.

All of you socialist whingers & toadies for the government class! The worst environmental disasters in the world are to be found in socialist run countries. You can't breath the air in China. You can't walk the streets in India for the filth. And allow me to remind you that Chernobyl was the child of the old dead USSocialistR. Tom Hunter did what any of you whingers could have done except that when he was busy building his business you were busy chatting each other up about how businesses should not be built.

73

Sam, you may be right.

Just so you know - The Stasi frueqently monitors this Site.

Well done Sir Tom, what you can't spend, give away...

if Sir Tom is serious about giving away some money to charity i would like to know how to make contact to apply for a donation for our Charity which is The Eddie Kidd Foundation. supporting the treatment and rehablilitation of stunt performers & extreme sportsmen & women.

#66 & 70 agreed. #77 Wee willie. the word you are looking for is whingeing and not wingers. Perhaps you are thinking of your name sake, wee willie Henderson, now he was a winger for Rangers. Forward to socialism!

Good wishes to Sir Tom and everyone who gives to the well being of communities. The donations are fantastic but then so are the matching amounts donated by the public to a wide range of charitiies

Carnagie was Pitsburg Steel Backbone of America
He didnt get in that position by being Mr Nice Guy>that came later when he built librarys and other good works. Incedentaly he didnt stock the libraries that was left to others.

His workers went on strike so he employed others,
the strikers tried to prevent the new workers going to work so Mr Carnagie hired The Pinkerton Agency to protect them handing out pick axe handles . Shades on the Miners Strike of 1984 which may have had some bearing on Sir Tom

In Biblical terms it is easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for him to enter the Kingdom of Heaveen, so could be that a lot of rich and not so rich people are hedgeing their bets .

Could be a very good thing, utilising the talents of those who can spot opportunities and make them work is no bad thing. He seems a good enough lad from the little i have seen, and has already started some interesting projects. Worth bearing in mind tho that the money will be invested over time, as the parent investment company makes profits. Given his success to date it likely will, but i will be looking at what his "private equity" firm is doing re its own investments to make profits. As long as it does not rob from Peter so Tom can pay Paul this should be a useful contribution to alleviating poverty. I think we should all feel obliged to look at all the facts tho and not get over emotonial, or does no one remember all the great words of Make Poverty History and the broken promises after.

79

Sedov, at last we agree on something. Wee Willie Henderson ... Wee Jimmy Johnstone ... when fitba wiz fitba ...

#79 "Forward to socialism!" Ha! Feudalism is socialism in a clean shirt. In both the government class owns most and controls the rest. The working people will never live free until the VAT goes the way of the feu duty because the more the government class takes, the more they squander.

#82 aye and Wee Hammy, sadly not in the same class as Henderson and Johnstone.
#Sam, I take it your having a problem with the Inland Revenue.

84

Sedov, which "Wee Hammy"? Johnny Hamilton of the Hearts?

Good on him. A self-made man through nothing other than hard graft, and affording the same opportunity to others.

#85 Yes the very same, I wonder what happened to him after his stint of coaching the Hearts reserve team? By the way, as you are a Perth man, how is wee St Johnstone going to fare this season?

On a nitty note, I thought a British billion was a million million...

To my mind this thread highlights a lot of the problems in Scotland - the love affair with socialism.

Capitalism works, I'm sorry to break it to you, but it does.

Every flourishing society has embraced it.

Some of them include some socilist ideals but the market economy is prevalent everywhere.

And while you still hold to your Marxist, stalinist, trotskist, communist or whatever socialist ideal it is, not even the SNP can save the country. Independence won't change this. Time to live up to the fact it is the 21st century, your revolution was nearly 100 years ago and it failed.

72. I didn't say anything about loss of pension rights in Bangladesh. There was a previous comment (17) from a former UK employee of TH whose working conditions took a dive after he took over the company. Those workers (and their kids) won't have had much in the way of a helping hand out of poverty as a result. And yes, slave wages is an oxymoron, and like many others of its kind, it is easy to understand the meaning of it. My basic point is that plenty of profit made in developed nations like the UK is at the expense of the poor elsewhere. Saying, as you do, if we asked them, they'd still be in favour of the marginal economic improvement that a factory job sewing soles on sports shoes offers, is missing the point. Instead, more of us should be asking ourselves how we feel paying £100 for trainers, from which a pittance goes to the kid who made them. That is the economics which puts TH in the position to start flashing his philanthropic cash. If you're content with that, fine, and applaud TH all you want. But don't buy the line that his £1bn will have much of a dent on global poverty.

A very encouraging thread. Apart from the envy-filled anti-capitalist usual suspects, most people have congratulated Sir Tom on both his generousity and his success.

Maybe Scotland is changing.

If Sir Tom had had the billion lifted from him by socialist taxation - a la Sedov - would it do as much good for society at large?

I personally would doubt it given council and government's tendency to take the funding umbrella back just when its most needed plus their inability to ensure the billion would all be put to work for the public good rather than in the back pockets of selected personnel in Government, councils or 'consultants'.

Peter,

Problem is, government flunkies believe the very act of spending taxpayers' money is doing public good.

Results are of little interest to them.

#69> Time will tell! Don't be too sure!
I most definately won't be around:maybe a good thing should the madmen from the US dare be ever let loose again with their NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
They were the only ones ever to use such vile weapons of mass destruction when they believed they were the only ones in possession of them!
Different story in 2007!

#92 "socialist taxation"? what on earth are you gibbering about? Go and read Karl Marx ( he is apparently coming back into fashion amongst the liberal economists) and then get back to me with some common sense.

With reference to the wages paid to workers in 3rd world. Remember not to equate the remuneration given to people in these foreign lands with that received here. If an employer from, say UK, offers people in a poorer country wages hugely over the odds it will create ecconomic difficulties for that whole country, possibly even revolution. At the very least it could kick-start rampant inflation, which is ok for the haves, but really, really bad for the havenots. So Beware of the yard-stick you use to decide what constitutes fair payment for work done.

Carnegie, talk about a schizoid character. He treated the strikers in Pittsburg brutally, that is a fact, and please don't blame the unions, this was plutocracy at it's worst.
BUT we only need to look at the public libraries he set up over the country, that indeed was an act of greatness, and God bless his memory for it.

61 - abolish the welfare state and return to charity hand-oots ?

What next ? pay to see a doctor ?

Hmm well if I can try to find that mystical third way here ... you have to let people with talent create things or services people want, they make the world a better place and help the economy.

On the other hand, we don't need any poverty or inequality in the world. We don't even need to work 5 days out of the week, and there's nothing to stop us plebs taxing the Hunters and Bill Gates of the world so that we can take it easy.

Shame our brains aren't wired for peace and cooperation ... best to let people with drive get on with it until Sedov's Utopia comes about!

99 - the 3rd way ? the last practiconer of that (as you say) mystical way led us into a war costing £4 billion than Hunter's pledge.

**** me ! I posted no. 100 without realising it, now that IS mystical !

#99 boab Of course capitalism has created a utopian Glasgow has it not where you have at least three times more chance of getting murdered than say in Cuba ( which is not socialist) or Carracas under Chavez?

87

Sedov, While I live in Perth, I am an exiled Dundonian. However, to your query: the Saints should do pretty well and certainly better than Dundee. Owen Coyle is a good manager. They should be challenging for the championship.

102: no mate it was socialism that created it

I hope I'm not the only one who finds this self-promotion slightly sickly. Hunter was a major sponsor of Brian Souter's vile 'referendum' to 'Keep the Clause'. So much for his commitment to equality. Working on a book on the repeal I was contacted and asked to remove references of a certain story that appeared in Scottish editions of the NofW which did nothing for the man's formidable attempt to expose a squeaky clean image. I would say a man who can hold parties with a bar carved out of ice on a private yacht can afford to give such money to charity! It's all tax-deductable, after all!

very nice of Sir Tom to give away such wealth to 3rd world countries, Well done sir.
A thought ...... what about all his home grown workers earning just over the national minimum to provide both his family and himself in luxury. C,mon Tom an extra 50p per hour would do so much more for your personal standing in the local comunity.
Please dont missunderstand me, I take my hat of to his spirit and selfless nature and applaude his giving nature. But look close to home and see the hardship endured by your own staff Tom.

102 - yes Sedov, and who has been running Glasgow for the last 60 years? Why a bunch of corrupt, incompetnet socialists - oce again a socialist choosing to ignore the fragrant failins of history. Capitalism aint perfect but the evidence it creates better standards of living for the large majority is blatantly obvious and the utter failings of socialist economies is even more so.

#56 WHW AGREED. SEDOV SHUT THE FECK UP YOU ARE A CRASHING BORE. OR EMIGRATE TO SHANGHAI THEY NEED BORES TO RUN THERE FAILED MARXIST STATE.

#11 "but surely it is the job of Governments to ensure equality, both at home and abroad. "

People like you are what is wrong with Scotland and the world.

The communists have already tried what you suggest and the result was totalitarian terror and death for millions.

Go and get a grasp of economics and stop spouting Marxist drivel.

"95. Sedov, Scotland / 5:07pm 18 Jul 2007 #92 "socialist taxation"? what on earth are you gibbering about? Go and read Karl Marx ( he is apparently coming back into fashion amongst the liberal economists) and then get back to me with some common sense."

Marx has been refuted many times over.

Go and live in Zimbabwe or North Korea to see what it's about.

Well done Tom now be a ggod boy and don't patronise us with your working-class done good *****hite. Congratulations on making the most of the last ten years of non-Tory rule. Let's hope that our present generation can also take the opportunities available and gain the same rewards. Best of luck to you in your future ventures.

What an interesting read. No surprise that blind Sedov and fellow-travelers object, but what a lot of criticism about a noble story: man becomes rich through hard work; man becomes