Ian Allsop is not writing slogans for the Brighton tourist board. He is asserting, instead, that the new Charity Commission chief needs time to prove herself.
By the time you read this Ukip will have conquered all, if the hyperbolic media and proclamations from the party itself are to be believed. Whatever success Farage’s mob had in the recent elections it is clear that their message and support relies on the politics of frightening people, whether through facts or the distortion thereof.
Some would argue the same thing applies to the narrative around terrorism – that the state deliberately ratchets up tension and suspicion so it can maintain control through over-zealous anti-terror legislation.
I am not saying I believe that, and I wouldn’t wish to underplay the seriousness of terrorism and the impact it has had on many innocent people.
Commission’s preoccupation
It is definitely something William Shawcross, Charity Commission chair, is worried about. He can’t look at a charity without imagining it to be a front for some nefarious activity, such as funding armed groups in far-off places.
Terrorist abuse of charities is “potentially the most deadly” problem the Charity Commission faces, stated Shawcross in the Sunday Times a few weeks back. To be fair, however, the Home Affairs Committee also said in a report last month it was “deeply concerned with the potential for bogus charities to dupe the public into raising funds” to support terrorist activity.
It recommended that the Charity Commission be granted extra resources and stronger legal powers to counter this.
As an aside, it was perhaps unfortunate that in the same interview where the Commission’s chair mentioned the terrorists, specifically Islamist extremists, he also used the term ‘salami slicing’.
I always feel uncomfortable when I see this phrase used in relation to spending cuts, mainly because it makes me feel hungry.
Perhaps there is a whole lexicon relating to financial loss based around pork products. Pepperoni pilfering. Ham mangling. Hock hock. But enough of this charcuterie chicanery.
Whatever powers the Commission gets in its global fight against a range of fundamentalists, it is unlikely that new chief executive Paula Sussex has been hired to don a protective jacket and march into distant desert training camps to sort things out. Although she has certainly needed armour to protect her from some of the flak she has received, even before she has started her job.
Her lack of charity experience has been cited as a negative in her appointment though I would have thought that a fresh, impartial approach is exactly what the beleaguered regulator needs at the minute, as well as a proven and robust management and leadership style.
Give Sussex a chance, I say. Which isn’t a tourist board slogan emanating from Brighton. Yes I am aware that she has probably heard all of the jokes on her surname hundreds of times, but I haven’t made them before.
A bit of trivia
Incidentally, the University of Sussex has a Shawcross fellowship which supports South African students on one-year masters degrees in the arts or social sciences. I am not sure what that tells us about the Commission’s future direction, but it’s an interesting bit of trivia for you to use over canapes at Acevo’s next launch party.
And Sussex witnessed the last successful invasion of the UK, when some of those European types which Ukip warned us about took advantage of lax border controls at Hastings, leading to rampant unchecked immigration.
By firing arrows around willy-nilly they were acting like, well, terrorists.
There is much to fear, both within our borders and beyond, but Sussex (person) will need to ensure that in the focus on terrorism, energy and funding isn’t diverted away from day-to-day regulation.
The motto of Sussex (county) is ‘we wunt be druv’, or we won’t be pushed around. Which is worth bearing in mind if Paula is to lead the Commission successfully through what will be a very tricky period.
Ian Allsop is a freelance editor and journalist, and regular contributor to Charity Finance.
