Diary: Just don't ask him for spare change

PR Week UK 15-May-08, 06:00

When famously spiky former editor of The Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie, caused spontaneous audience combustion at the Charity Communications Conference in Euston, Diary could have been knocked down with a feather.

Attached to a baseball bat. Attached to a freight train.

Mackenzie is known for his ability to start an argument in a room full of Buddhists, so getting him to appear seemed a bit of a coup, until he enraged the audience with choice views such as this:

'The world does not revolve around your charity. In truth, most people don't care. They have enough trouble conducting their own lives, let alone caring about others.'

He was unsure whether charity workers were 'crooks', and if a recession hits, he would 'save his Aga' before giving to charity. He thought charity workers were 'not bad people but misguided'.

MacKenzie also talked about his appearance on The Apprentice. That is the Sport Relief edition. The charity edition. In, er, which he raised money, for charity.