"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was recorded by Band-Aid on November 25, 1984, and sold over 3 million copies, making it the best selling single in UK history until "Candle in the Wind '97". It raised £8 million for the famine in Ethiopia.

Despite all of this, I think that "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is the most arrogant, self-centred song I have ever heard, if for nothing else but for this one line:

Well, tonight thank God it's them instead of you!

What a lovely sentiment ...

I don't question that their hearts were in the right place, and that the proceeds of that song did a lot of good. It also led to other projects and the birth of the idea that celebrities can use their talents for charity. However, you can tell it was written before the era of political correctness. It reminds me of my grandma saying to me in the summer of 1994:

"I feel sorry for those poor people in Wanda!"
"I think it's pronouced Rwanda, Grandma".
"Oh, well ... whatever."

I currently have a client from Africa. I asked her to listen to "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and let me know what she thinks. She had never heard it before, and sat there shaking her head:

• In some places in Africa, it does snow.
• Things do grow in Africa.
• The only water flowing is not "the bitter sting of tears". In fact, she told me that she often went fishing when she lived in Africa, but "our lakes are not like yours - the water is clean in ours".
• She always knew when it was Christmas.