Dragons put on a poor show (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Dragons put on a poor show

8:47am Thursday 26th August 2010 in Columnists By Alan Molineaux

I have been enjoying the latest series of Dragons’ Den. I say ‘enjoying’ even though I spend most of my time shouting at the TV in frustration.

It’s not the often inept presentation of the inventors and entrepreneurs, who are trying to prise money out of the dragons that leads me to despair. It’s the way that the multi-millionaire stars seem to enjoy ridiculing the poor fools who enter their lair.

A young couple, who had invented what seemed to be a quality product, have just been called naive by the tall one. Of course they are! They are nothing but kids and have only been in business for a few months.

It’s as if they want people to be the finished article when they arrive in the den. But surely they wouldn’t need to ask for help if they knew all the answers.

Apart from Theo mentioning his ‘children’s inheritance’ time and again, it is the lack of comprehension they show regarding what they are giving away that riles me.

Duncan Bannatyne, for example, is estimated to be worth £320m. During this latest episode, he offered £200k to a couple of inventors. Your initial reaction might be one of amazement at such an investment.

This is such a small percentage of his overall wealth. If you or I had a bank balance of £1,000 it would be the equivalent of giving away 63p. That would make the above investment mere loose change to a wealthy businessman.

I am not commenting on the integrity of Duncan and his fellow Dragons, but context always gives you the right perspective. I am sure they give many thousands of pounds to charity every year, and that such giving makes a definable difference to needy causes, but let’s keep it in perspective.

A recent survey indicated that the lowest earners among our population give a higher percentage of their income to charity. I am quite sure that most of our people give more than 63p to charity each year.

Figures vary, but most commentators reckon that the average annual giving by British people is 0.8 per cent of their yearly wage. I know many people who give a lot more than this.

It has been moving to see the response of the British people to the Pakistan flood victims. While never enough, a substantial amount has been raised, and most seemingly by ordinary folk.

So while the Dragons enjoy publicity-seeking in their den as they revel in handing out spare cash to young hopefuls, the rest of us make a real difference by pooling our resources to help those who don’t have the luxury of owning any loose change.