BLOG: Dougal Paver says the latest Barnardo's campaign is not here to make us feel comfortable

The charity has dubbed them "the hidden victims of crime" and called on the government to improve on the non-existent care provided to children of parents sent to jail.
The campaign points out that doing so can help avoid family breakdown and relieve significant stress on the parent left holding the baby whilst the other does porridge.
Campaigning of this type is a key plank of most PR programmes. The launch, on-going commentary - often supported by research findings - and debate they generate keep an issue in the spotlight and enable the progenitors to grab significant share of voice. Welcome to my world.
The more uncomfortable the campaign makes people feel, the better. Forcing people to face up to challenging issues can be extraordinarily effective in stimulating the debate that leads to change. And this campaign from Barnardo's fits that bill very neatly.
My first reaction listening to the story on Radio 4 this morning was to mutter darkly that the government would be better served looking after the victims of crime and their families first. They do a pretty woeful job of this, after all.
I then noted to myself that once that's done - and assuming there's any cash in the pot now that they've blown a few trillion elsewhere - they might then move on to the criminals' families.
Being a decent sort, I then addressed the other side of the argument and admitted to myself that you can't blame the son for the sins of the father. And if young children need help, then a decent society should jolly well provide it.
That got me thinking about my favourite charity, Claire House Children's Hospice, and how they have to campaign hard to secure the vast bulk of their income from voluntary donations.
The government simply can't afford to fund hospices of this type and it's incumbent on Claire House to scrap hard to demonstrate that they deliver a worthwhile service and value for money.
My conclusion, then, was that Barnardo's have an uphill battle to climb on this one. That doesn't mean they shouldn't attempt it - hey, I climb mountains for a hobby so I know about the psychology of getting yourself up a steep slope - but given the public mood on crime; given the lack of funds out there; and given the myriad causes to which both the government and public could choose to donate, my bet is they'll struggle.
Still, as a piece of PR it was a cracker: it's got me blogging about it, after all.

Dougal Paver is managing director of Paver Smith