Much as I’ve got a lot of time, personally, for Tom Watson and know enough about both the Yew Tree and Tamebridge area and the work of its Resident’s Association to be sure that good cause he’s currently promoting on his website is worthy of support, nevertheless I cannot for the life of me follow his suggestion.

13.11.2006: Healthy living from tacky TV?

Most readers of this blog will not have heard of the Yew Tree and Tamebridge Estates Residents Association but might be able to help them all the same. The residents that work week in, week out, to hold the neighbourhood of the Yew Tree and Tamebridge together are involved in a competition for lottery funding that requires people to vote in a television poll. They want to build a healthy living cafe but they need to win the ITV People’s Millions competition.

Putting aside my slight reservations about X-factor style competitions for lottery cash, will you help them? Local residents want to construct a healthy eating cafe that gives nutritional advice and support to old and young alike. To register your vote please call 0870 243 3601 or text CENTRAL 1 to 63330.

Its not just a matter of sharing Tom’s reservations about the manner in which this money is being distributed, it more that I notice that to vote one has to call either national rate telephone number or send a text message, and yet nowhere, so far as I can see, does either ITV’s website or that of the Big Lottery Fund or, indeed, any of the supporting documentation state;

a) what it actually costs to register your vote (presumably this will appear on screen if one watches the programme), or

b) where this money actually goes (my best guess being that complete lack of such information suggests that the majority, if not all of it, goes to BT, for providing the phone lines, and ITV and the show’s production company)

So, if my thinking is correct, if you do want a say in how lottery money is being spent then it very likely means paying both BT and ITV for the privilege.

Sorry, no thanks.