The cause itself is unimpeachable, but the reason why the Hoping Foundation’s annual fundraiser for Palestinian children has become the best night out on London’s charity circuit is because it’s such damn fun. Where else on a gloomy Monday are you going to see Kate Moss coughing up £20,000 to motivate Boy George’s performance of “Do You Really Wanna Hurt Me?” Or have the Chili Peppers belting out “Californication” and “By the Way” this far from your table? Among the evening’s other random, raffish charms: Gemma Arterton charging through a hopped-up version of “Sympathy for the Devil,” Jarvis Cocker slinking off the stage and across Eva Herzigova’s table while crooning Phyllis Nelson’s soul classic “Move Closer,” Mossy dancing till 3 a.m. with the latest U.K. hip-hop sensations the Rizzle Kicks (nice 20th birthday present for Harley Kicks). Hoping’s events have coached us to expect the unexpected, like 2010’s union of Nick Cave and Tom Jones, and re-union of David Gilmour and Roger Waters. Last night came pretty close to that, kudos, as usual, to the formidable address books of co-trustees Bella Freud and Karma Nabulsi, and their equally formidable powers of persuasion. And, by the end of the evening, £380,000 had been raised to put toward everything from schoolbooks to university scholarships for children in refugee camps. Result!
—Tim Blanks
Photo: Richard Young / Rex Features
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