How COULD woke Channel 4 abandon their dying presenter so callously?

Everyone is so very compassionate and caring, aren’t they? Until their public stance becomes a personal sacrifice, then suddenly they aren’t quite so concerned any more.

Look at the idiot english football team, whose captain promised to wear a oneLove rainbow armband as a stand against intolerance of homosexuality in Qatar, but dropped the idea when FiFa threatened to punish him and several other european team captains for doing so.

Told they would face a yellow card for displaying support for the persecuted LGBTQ community, the armbands came off quicker than a Pigalle stripper’s bloomers. Then the england squad ‘took the knee’ instead, a hollow gesture that means nothing while honouring no one — except themselves.

and if FiFa say anything, Harry Kane and his teammates can always pretend they are just doing up their laces. nothing to see here, mate! Let’s get on with the game, shall we?

on Monday Harry took one for the team by wearing a £500,000 rolex rainbow watch to arrive at the stadium, so humbling — and brave.

it just underlines the fact that celebrities and sports stars are very keen on these grandiose acts of charitable solidarity and support — until some element of individual loss is involved. Then it’s every fraud for himself.

Look at climate-change hypocrites. They can still take private jets while you must cut back on fossil-fuel consumption and cancel your annual holiday abroad.

Look at collecting money for good causes. They run non-profit organisations and charities, funded by donations from you, yet still manage to pay themselves handsome salaries. i’ve never understood how that works. and, of course, organisations can be just as hypocritical as individuals. Channel 4 has always prided itself on being woke, diverse and even kind, the sort of broadcaster that looks out for the little guy, speaks up for minorities and offers a different world view. They even have an annual alternative Christmas message. over the years, Doreen and neville Lawrence, iran’s hated president Mahmoud ahmadinejad and Cia whistleblower edward Snowden have all preached sermons on tolerance and spiritual enlightenment along with seasonal greetings.

But this generosity and largesse does not extend to the terminally ill — especially if they happen to be on the C4 payroll.

When a Place in The Sun host Jonnie irwin (pictured) told C4 he had a terminal cancer diagnosis, they promptly axed him from the show by failing to renew his contract. C4’s excuse was that they could not get insurance for him to travel abroad — or should that be they could not get insurance for him at a price they were willing to pay? instead of extending a duty of care towards irwin — or even a helping hand or a shred of humanity or compassion — he was dropped.

‘Within two weeks someone else was on Tv doing my job. i just feel i earned a bit more from them after 18 years. That was my first job in Tv and it was special to me,’ he said, adding that not being able to provide for his family had ‘affected my mental health’.

i’m sure it did. at the lowest point in his life, when he was counting on support from his employers, irwin deserved better.

in the summer of 2020, the 49-year-old was given just six months to live when he was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer, which has spread to his brain.

at first he didn’t want to tell anyone, but so many Twitter users commented on his increasingly gaunt onscreen appearance — so caring of them! — that he had to reveal the truth. after sharing his diagnosis with show bosses, his contract was not renewed, with irwin admitting the decision ‘broke my heart.’

The Balenciaga advert is the latest affront from the fashion world. In a bid to promote its overpriced accessories, the firm’s new campaign features a sad child clutching a teddy inexplicably wearing a sadomasochistic bondage harness. But what can we expect from the freaks who run fashion? Over the years they have repeatedly shown that in the desperate rush to be edgy, they have lost sight of what is — and is not — appropriate.

He aLSo presents escape To The Country for the BBC, and has continued filming for them since his diagnosis. one can see that this put Channel 4 in a predicament. How could irwin travel abroad in his extremely vulnerable condition, in the middle of the Covid epidemic? That is understandable.

yet surely there were better ways of managing the situation than this brutal farewell. The long-running programme makes a small fortune for the channel, in terms of advertising revenue. The show is made by a company called Freeform Productions, which distributes it globally.

‘We, of course, understand how frustrating this must be for him at this incredibly difficult time,’ they said in a statement yesterday, no doubt pulling on their armbands of sympathy as they did so. Did no one at C4 or Freeform think of doing the right thing by financially compensating their stricken presenter?

Perhaps supplying him with a little peace of mind during his last months on earth, assuring him that, come what may, his family would be looked after and compensated? is that too much to ask for, after nearly 20 years of service?

Jonnie irwin knows this will be the last Christmas he spends with his young family. He tortures himself with the thought that his toddler children will not remember him when they grow up. The last thing he wants to do is spend all this precious time in giving interviews in television studios and to the Press, explaining his desperate situation to anyone who will listen, exposing himself and the brutal progression of his illness to the world.

yet he is not doing it for himself — he is doing it for his family. and it is a disgrace that he has been put in this position.

Let us hope his callous employers, after this public shaming, find it in their hearts to do the right thing.