After 30 years the Band Aid Christmas record is to be re-launched as Band Aid 30, but instead of Bob Geldoff telling us to give our “F+++ing money” to relieve famine in Africa we are now being urged to hand it over to defeat the threat of the Ebola virus in the same continent. It’s a nice idea. If only it were that simple.

It isn’t, of course, and I can immediately think of two reasons why many people may decide to make their charitable donations elsewhere.

Firstly, whilst I have no doubt that the members of Band Aid 30 have the best of intentions in releasing their Christmas record (and at the same time pushing their careers a little further into the limelight!) it does seem a little incongruous for the general public to be told by multi-millionaire pop-stars what to do with their hard earned money. Incongruous and patronising; why don’t these stars just quietly divert some of their own private fortunes to such a worthy cause? Maybe they do.

Secondly, the original Band Aid 1984 was hardly an unqualified success with subsequent reports showing that millions of pounds worth of aid ended up paying for weapons, mansions, luxury cars and boats for corrupt rebel warlords. I am sure that a sizeable proportion of the aid went to the appropriate targets but that isn’t enough.

If the public are to be encouraged to provide charitable relief they need to know that that relief is going to the intended beneficiary. Can Bob Geldoff and his friends provide such a guarantee?