Gordon Hunter wonders, whatever happened to charity now that it has been engulfed by the state?

Whatever happened to charity? It got nicked by the state, some would say. 

With the Charity Commission funded by government and the Lottery controlled by government, we should not be surprised when the Commission's chief exec calls for a "contract culture" and BIG starts spending more public money on investment bonds and the olympics and less on grants. 

The definiton of charity is expanding (the efficiency of our armed forces, equity loans to business) whilst state services decline. Community cohesion cash went primarily to Councils and the police (whatever happened to the "migrant impacts" programme?). We've got hobby bobbies, volunteer firemen and NHS mutuals. Whatever next - volunteer government? Actually, it's a logical extension, from volunteer councillor to volunteer minister.

What about the so-called quango cull? The shooting season finished with a whimper as some of the lame ducks were given the cuckoo option: a free pass to charity or social enterprise status. How do they do that? Does the government wave its magic charity wand or is there some sort of robust process via the Charity Commission, funded by...

It's enough to make the cash-strapped managers of traditional charities weep. One ex-quango has had £325 million of Lottery money to fund innovation and business startups. They will launch with a £333 million float!  65 per cent of spend goes on operations and salary; £8m last year to 80 plus staff with rare (for charities) and generous benefits like life insurance, lunch and leisure vouchers and 12 per cent pension contributions.  Their future is assured.

There is a place for the contract culture but we must preserve our charitable traditions - ordinary people doing extraordinary things for the benefit of their local communities  And they need practical help, incuding grants.  You can't replace love thy neighbour with lend to him.