Evidence that the British are a relatively decent bunch – leader comment

Do you consider yourself to be a generous person? Or do you cross by on the other side of the street without a thought?

There will always be a need for charitable donations (Picture: Lisa McPhillips)

According to a new global survey of 1.3 million people by the Charities Aid Foundation, 71 per cent of Britons had given money to charity in the four weeks before they were interviewed, while 60 per cent had helped a stranger and 30 per cent had volunteered for a good cause, figures that saw the UK come seventh out of 128 countries around the world.

Some may argue that the need for charity shows there is something wrong with society – pointing to food banks in the UK as a case in point – but the reality is we are unlikely to ever achieve a utopian world in which no one ever needs a helping hand.

There will always be a place for kindness and generosity and a moral question that each one of us is essentially forced to answer – if only by our own conscience.

The fact that so many people in the UK give money or time to a good cause is perhaps a sign of hope that, despite our troubles, we are collectively a relatively decent bunch after all.