Camerons appeal for charities that helped their eldest child

What a coincidence! From writing a note on another forum about the press response to the death of Ivan Cameron, I went next to look at this morning's Independent online edition and found this: "Hospices where Ivan's legacy lives on: The Camerons make appeal for carers and charities that helped their eldest child"

" .... few people realise the fragility of these centres' finances, the Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley told The Independent yesterday. Hadley has played in several fundraising concerts free of charge for the hospice.

"I was so upset by what happened to Ivan, so upset, as was my wife and everyone we know," he said. "Before I got involved with Shooting Star, I had no idea they received hardly any help from the Government. These places are so fundamental to their communities, and so much good comes of them, that it's just pure scandalous that they struggle for cash. Nothing will bring Ivan back, but if Shooting Star can keep going that will be a wonderful legacy for him to leave."

This is good news. Especially for the charities nominated by the Camerons. But what we need, as Tony Hadley recognises, is a total change in the system of funding - not just of hospices, but of schools, of advocacy services, of training, of child care, of short breaks ... all those services now being run by parents organisations, for parents and their children, that are struggling financially.

To put it into jargon: the "business model" of the begging bowl is not a sufficient model for the delivery of world class public services. We need a whole new model of how such services are delivered and by whom, that allows long-term planning and not the short-termism that dominates most local charities today.

The news from Birmingham is just the latest example.