GOOD grief, is it Red Nose Day again? The male leg waxing and baked bean baths come round with unfailing regularity, particularly so at university when people tend to do that sort of thing on your average quiet Tuesday in.

So I'm expecting a good line up of humiliation to entice me to donate my money to Comic Relief on Friday - I don't give it away for free, and I'll need to see more than just a waxed shin before I part with my cash, charity or not.

I remember the last Comic Relief day, our headmaster gave quite a severe assembly on the state of a society that demanded entertainment in order to give to charity. It might have accidentally reduced a few red-nosed first years to tears, which didn't seem all that charitable to me. While he didn't mean to sound scrooge-like by spoiling all the fun, and I do think he had an important, if unpopular point to make, a bigger chunk of me wonders why the hell shouldn't we have fun?

The main charitable organisation at university, Karnival, is so well disguised as a drinking society that people rarely remember that they're raising money at all. In fact, they rarely remember anything full stop.

They just pay their money for the Karnival organised events, get through a wheely bin full of 'Karni cocktail', while in countries afar, decent and caring people choose how to use the money raised.

Not everyone agrees with this method of fundraising, however, and in the recent students' union elections a couple of the foolish candidates have been calling for Karnival to focus on the charitable elements and calling for the reps and organisers to be a little more than binge-drinking rugby jocks and cheerleaders. But what would be the point? If you put benevolent, sensible charitable types in charge of the organisation I'm quite convinced that they'd raise only half as much money. There are plenty of hands on volunteering opportunities for the genuinely decent, but when it comes to raising cold, hard cash then popularity will always win the day.

The simple fact is that people are only so interested in other people - that is, not a lot interested. If it's a question of carrot and stick, they'd far prefer the alluring carroty alco-pop than the stick banging on their consciences. Mainly because most students' consciences are directly replaced by insatiable appetite for Bacardi Breezers.

It's the same for me and my hitch to Morocco at Easter - of course raising money for charity is a bonus, but mainly I'm just glad of the excuse to go travelling legitimately in an unorthodox manner.

Yes, yes, it's a sad reflection on human nature that there has to be something in it for us to do good deeds, that we have to be entertained and made to laugh. And not everyone does, of course - some lovely, slightly dull people resist laughter and probably resist Comic Relief, preferring instead to donate humourlessly to whatever charity.

Which is good for charity. But many millions in Britain do want to be entertained, and do, selfishly, have fun while they raise money. Which is also good for charity. Do the starving people of the world care whether we have a laugh when raising money for them? No, of course they don't, they're far too busy thinking about themselves.