Bob Geldof

[Ducati]

Am I the only person who finds Bob Geldof and his posturing a bit annoying?

[Zen]

No you are not alone, I thiink the same.

[Greg222]

Yeah and he's always been a scruffy rat...  But we'll let him off as he's made /  making a difference to poverty in the 3rd world, fair play to you Bob....

[kags]

He IS annoying, that's the whole point. It's because he's so irritating, and unconcerned with his self-image that he gets stuff done. I don't always agree with him, but I admire his conviction.

[justineo]

Surely, what's important is what is being said, not who is saying it

[nuoyg]

I am neutral...He doesn't annoy me nor enamour me...I think he is a man passionate about his cause...however, I do find him a bit scary/intimidating.  On the mere offchance (v unlikely) I came face to face with him, there's no way I wouldn't agree with him as I think he'd just talk you down!

The one thing I think about him is the lovely way he has raised Tiger Lily as though she is his own.  I read a lovely interview with all of them and he tells her all about MH & PY so that softens me towards him!

[tweet]

i agree with nuoyg

If only there were more people like bob....world might be a better place (thats just my opinion of cause)

[bernardo]

Yes you are the only person who finds Bob Geldof and his posturing a bit annoying.  The rest of us find him extremely annoying.

[Andy008]

I would agree that Bob Geldof can occassionally come across as slightly offish. I'm not overly fond by any means, much like Tony Blair. That said I do hugely admire both figures for their drive, ambition and charisma. Both can come across as annoying, their sucess however cannot be denied.

[MORELLO]

No.

[clairus99]

i worked with him once and he seemed okay.  i remember he was quite partial to crumpets with marmite as well...

[Little Lady]

For someone who is trying to do good in the world that we some seem to care so little about i am all for him wanting to make a difference and think we need this, or do you want to see the poverty carry on and just ignore it just because we are happy, healthy and have plenty of money. Lets not worry about those starving people over there because we are ok. I am sooo astounded to hear people say he is annoying. He is trying to do good and some of you can't see that. I know a few people say he is just trying to act like a god and save everyone who is suffering from poverty but at least he is actually doing something to help them! Sorry Rant over!

[eupraxia]

He is getting a bit big for his boots. the last pop star who started to act like that was Micheal Jackson and look what happened there.

[luckyboy]

I love the guy...and his in your face attitude.

But this being britain where we constantly build people up to knock them down with our unbridled cynicism..the backlash against geldof was always going to happen...

i'm just surprised its taken so long... 

[moonunit100]

I read somewhere that his personal fortune now exceeds �50 million. Quite bizarre that a bloke who has built his career on getting 'ordinary' people to give up their hard earned cash has amassed such a fortune.

[luckyboy]

How is that bizarre...whatever you may think about geldof  the man, you cannot argue with the fact that he has helped raise a great deal of awareness and a lot of money for the starving of africa...live aid was a towering achievement...whatever his critics say, geldof will be remembered long after these faceless know it alls have kicked the bucket...so what if the man is a shrewd businessman and has built up a personal fortune for himself and his family good luck to him, 50 million is not even half of what band aid have raised over the years for good causes...and without geldof and his energy and drive that enterprise would never have got off the ground...

[moonunit100]

Well, I think the whole 'give me your money' plea is a bit shallow coming from a bloke who's got more money than it's possible to spend in a lifetime.

Basically before live aid Bob Geldof had a couple of hits with the Boomtown Rats and a starring role in the Pink Floyd movie The Wall. Neither of these would have made him much cash. His money has come from his charity work. When I do work for charity, I don't get paid. Mr Geldof, however, seems to take a good wage from it.

In his latest scheme he is backed by other multi-millionaires including Elton John, the man who thinks nothing of spending something like �500,000 in flowers in one day and yet is all of a sudden becoming aware that there are people who couldn't even afford a single red rose. I wonder if these people are just trying to silence their own guilty consciences because they realise how ridiculous their own spending is.

On top of that, we've been giving money now for over 20 years and I don't see that a lot has changed. We still have the likes of Lenny Henry (another man with more money than it's possible to spend) telling us that '�10 will provide a man with farming equipment so he can feed his family for life' Well, how many more �10 do we have to give. Let's face it, the money raising hasn't worked because it doesn't get to the people who need it. But that hasn't stopped the likes of Geldof begging for more money year in year out and taking a good sized cut out of it for himself (so it seems).

 I'm all for helping the unfortunate souls in this world, but it seems the problems need a bit more thought before they are solved and we certainly don't need people making money out of all this.

[moonunit100]

This latest scheme of his is partly designed to wipe out the debts of many under developed nations. This sounds like a great idea doesn't it?

Well our government has just decide to use taxpayers money to give �270 of aid to Tanzania. A noble act. Shortly after this, Tanzania's president, Benjamin Mkapa spent �15m on a personal jet.

So, is the aid we're giving being well spent? Who are we helping?

I'm not saying we shouldn't help, just saying we need a different approach to the one Mr Geldof has been preaching to us for so long.

[the.dr]

yer hes a nob, i believe people always do anything for a reason, his is the acclaim he gains,....question....does anyone see him pledging any of his millions???

[luckyboy]

Geldof has never once said that live aid would solve the problems of african famine, only that it was a start to try to educate the world about the problems facing that continent which whatever his critics think he succeeded brilliantly in... sneer all you like but at least the likes of geldof has got off his arse and done something, i wish all his critics who profess to know all the answers got off their asses and put their words into action before mouthing off... but then this is britain of course...