The Mail highlighted the allocation of Lottery funds
to controversial and politically motivated groups while they were being
denied to groups representing war veterans. The Guardian claimed that
the Mail was motivated by race: “The objection to this was kept
fairly oblique, but the bare bones of it seemed to be that while the recipients
were plenty poor enough for a grant, they were insufficiently white.”
Groups that have received funds include: Northern Ireland
Filipino Assoc. (£7,500), Belfast Traveller Support Group (£404,000),
Cusichaca Trust (£295,000) and Akina Mama Wa Afrika (£1,000,000).
Among the groups denied funding by the Community Fund was the St Dunstan’s
Home for Blind Ex-Servicemen.
Editor's comment: I
know you are dying to know what Akina Mama Wa Afrika and the Cusichaca
Trust actually do. The first promotes womens’ groups in Uganda,
Nigeria, Ethiopia and their counterparts in the UK. The second works at
the vital task of helping Peruvian farmers to breed fatter guinea pigs
for eating. I’m sure that you, like me, have often been disappointed
by a skinny guinea pig.
Joking apart, this piece misses one of the worst abuses of Lottery funding.
Several community and concerned residents’ paramilitary front groups
in Ulster have received money from the Lottery. As Richard Littlejohn
often says “you couldn’t make it up”..
