Although few people criticise individual acts of charity, there are some well-known critiques of organised charities, especially of the larger charitable institutions. Firstly, there have been some high-profile scandals involving international charities operating in the developing world. Some nineteenth-century thinkers, such as Friedrich Engels, criticised charities for just about sustaining conditions in slum areas that made them more long-lived than they otherwise would have been. Oscar Wilde famously wrote about charities as being sentimental over the private lives of poor people. Finally, some people view the charity lobby as a negative force in society, often asking for government grants that are in support of certain social policies only, usually those that are in favour with the government of the day.