Sir Richard Branson on travel and organ donation

[iolaire]

https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/104703944/Sample-your-own-products-meet-your-own-people-Bransons-key-to-travel-success



If he ruled the world: Branson's big three policies
...

"Two: we do quite a lot of work with people in desperate need of organs. In most countries, you have to opt in if you want to leave your organs to somebody else. We believe very strongly that you should opt out so that anyone who is killed, the doctors can take that organ unless there's a specific name on a computer that means you can't. That means that most of these people who are dying unnecessary deaths due to not getting organ donations wouldn't.

[MooseMom]

That's really interesting.  I mean, out of all of the things on which he would place most attention, organ donation is one of them!  It makes me wonder if a family member or friend has needed a new organ.

[Simon Dog]

The current kidney allocation system is based on "points" - one per year, with bonus points for things like having been a solid organ donor (sorry, no credit for a bone marrow donation).

A partial solution to the problem would be to give anyone waiting for an organ one point for every year they were registered as a donor, with some normalization for age so younger registered donors do as well as older ones.   It does not seem fair that a person who expressed their willingness to donate posthumously for decades gets the same priority as someone who has prepared "no donate" instructions.

[Paul]

Please don't post good things that RB says because it confuses me. I have problems with the guy. And if one day you read that he has been beaten to death and the wounds are consistent with him being beaten with a NHS walking stick, then you can be reasonably sure that police forensics will be testing my walking stick very carefully.

[kristina]

Please don't post good things that RB says because it confuses me. I have problems with the guy. And if one day you read that he has been beaten to death and the wounds are consistent with him being beaten with a NHS walking stick, then you can be reasonably sure that police forensics will be testing my walking stick very carefully.

Hello Paul, where's the problem? Could you please tell us? Of course, I don't really know much about Richard Branson, except, that his business-folklore goes into the fairy-tale direction and he claims to have started off very poor in a telephone-box with a pen and paper and a few pennies to phone people for business ... and it earned him so much money, that he is now a multi-millionaire ... and I must say, I an unable to believe such business-fairy-tale-folklores ... and sometimes I wonder whether it all might have been "build on sand" like the business of 'Captain Bob' ? What do you think?
Best wishes from Kristina.

[Paul]

Hello Paul, where's the problem? Could you please tell us?

Way back when I had Virgin Media as my ISP I noticed on my bill that I had been overcharged. I 'phoned up their call centre expecting either a profuse apology and a refund or an indignant "that cannot have happened, you must have asked us to put you on a more expensive package". I got neither. Instead they admitted that they had transferred me to a higher priced package without asking or informing me. When I said I did not want the higher priced package and demanded they refunded the two months I had been charged the higher price package they simply said that by paying them (they were on direct debt) I had agreed to the service, so no, I could not have a refund. I then said I wanted to cancel the higher priced one and go back to the cheaper package. They said no, I couldn't because it was a year long contract. By paying the first bill (again, this was done automatically by my bank) I had agreed to this, so had to keep paying for at least a year. So I told them that, in that case, I was going to close my account with them and go elsewhere. They told me that I could not do that until the year was up. So I just cancelled the direct debt and stopped paying them any future payments (at that point I was up to date with past payments). They sent debt collectors after me.

After this happened I basically brought it up in conversation with everyone I knew. Normally, in that situation, my friends and family would say "shut up Paul, you are getting boring now." However in most cases people simply told me a story where they had been screwed over by a Virgin company. The stories were all about different companies, the only thing they had in common was that they were founded or run by Branson. In other words, he made his money by being "legally dishonest".

There was also a TV documentary I saw a while back. It was a very old documentary (repeated in a "programs of the year" type of thing) from when Branson was just starting to become successful. At that time abortion had not long been legal, and it was still difficult and expensive for a woman to get one. Branson had got a woman pregnant, and some charity had helped her get an abortion. He was very grateful and made it quite clear that if not for them this could have ruined his life. Emphasis on his life, he showed no concern for the woman involved. In fact he inferred it was all her fault, getting herself pregnant on his semen. He was not a nice person.

There is also the story I was told by a friend of a person who was high up at the Virgin Megastore chain when it sold up and eventually went bankrupt. That story makes all the above look like "small potatoes" in comparison. Unfortunately all I have is the word of a friend of a friend, I have no proof. If I were to publish it here I would open IHD up to the risk of prosecution, and as we have already established, Branson is a big enough bastard to do that. So I can't tell you about that.

And of course there is the commonly known story of the billion or so he ripped the government (and tax payer) off of over Northern Rock.

[kristina]

Many thanks Paul, for your honest reply, I can't thank you enough for it!
Richard Branson does not sound like a likeable person and I am quite shocked about his reported behaviour as a human being, especially when he reportedly mentioned, that the pregnancy of that girl could have "ruined his life" without a thought for the poor girl and what she had to go through, because, after all, it always takes two to tango! And the leading question now is : How did he "come by" his "Sir" title? After all, don't people receive a "Sir" title after having done a lot for Charity over many years ... ?
Thanks for the reminder about the policy etc. of "Virgin Media". (What a name ...!)  I remember neighbours' warnings, how difficult it became for them to terminate their contract with "Virgin Media" and I remember, they had to make an appointment with Citizen Advice for urgent help, because there was hardly any way out of their contract. I remember their panic and their urgent need for professional advice !
And there was of course Northern Rock... how could I forget about this... That was quite horrific !
Thanks again for reminding me, it just reiterates to have nothing to do with any of it and to stay as far away from it as is possible ... many thanks again and best wishes from Kristina.

[Paul]

How did he "come by" his "Sir" title?

The law has changed now, and I have no idea if this applies to Sir Richard or not, but back when he was knighted the easiest way to get a knighthood was to make a big donation to whichever political party was in power at the time. Do that and most other things were overlooked, you'd practically have to be in jail for eating babies before they refused a donor a knighthood.

[kristina]

How did he "come by" his "Sir" title?

The law has changed now, and I have no idea if this applies to Sir Richard or not, but back when he was knighted the easiest way to get a knighthood was to make a big donation to whichever political party was in power at the time. Do that and most other things were overlooked, you'd practically have to be in jail for eating babies before they refused a donor a knighthood.

... as one favourite comedian would mumble : " Thaaaaat's how to do it ...