JK Rowling, Mary Portas, Stan Collymore and others join calls for Europe to welcome those seeking sanctuary 
 
 Celebrities, authors and footballers have spoken out to pledge their support for the thousands of refugees seeking sanctuary in Europe. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Video: Charity helps refugees find a flatshare in Berlin 
 
 Bob Geldof, in a highly charged interview on Irish radio, offered to take in four families immediately and give them shelter in his homes in Kent and London. Geldof said: “If there’s a new economy then there needs to be a new politics, and it’s a failure of that new politics that’s led to this disgrace, this absolute sickening disgrace,” he said. 
 
 
 
 “I’m prepared – I’m lucky, I’ve a place in Kent and a flat in London – me and (partner) Jeanne would be prepared to take three families immediately in our place in Kent and a family in our flat in London, immediately, and put them up until such time as they can get going and get a purchase on their future.” 
 
 He told RTÉ the images of three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi’s body being washed up on a Turkish beach, and other distressing reports from borders and cities across Europe, were a source of shame. 
 
 “I look at it with profound shame and a monstrous betrayal of who we are and what we wish to be,” he said. 
 
 “We are in a moment currently now that will be discussed and impacted on in 300 years time.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest JK Rowling. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters 
 
 On her Twitter account, the author JK Rowling added her support to the refugees welcome campaign that is spreading across Europe. 
 
 J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) If you can't imagine yourself in one of those boats, you have something missing. They are dying for a life worth living. #refugeeswelcome 
 
 Mary Portas, the fashion retail expert, added her name to the refugees welcome campaign, urging her followers to sign a Save the Children petition for urgent EU action and for Britain to take its fair share of refugees. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mary Portas. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian 
 
 Stan Collymore, the former Aston Villa striker, is among those supporting the campaign to show solidarity for those trying to start a new life in Europe after fleeing war zones in Syria and elsewhere. “I remember Doug Ellis and our team taking aid to Bucharest in 1997 ahead of playing Steaua [Bucureşti], and also Birmingham is a vibrant multicultural community,” he said. “I think our great club could and should do our bit to help.” 
 
 He also said he would look after a refugee family in his own home. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stan Collymore. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian 
 
 Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) If my government allows, I'll take a Syrian family in my home for a year, tomorrow @leehayward1970 . Will you? Or just bitch? 
 
 The authors Rosamund Lupton, David Nicholls, Francesca Simon and Marian Keyes were among the writers and publishers who added their money to a fund set up by the children’s author Patrick Ness which will be given to Save the Children. Ness pledged to match the first £10,000 of donations, and by Friday he had raised more than £200,000. ||||| Bob Geldof says Britain's response so far has been inadequate 
 
 Bob Geldof has offered to accommodate four refugee families in his London and Kent homes as Europe struggles comes to terms with the scale of the humanitarian crisis. 
 
 The aid campaigner and singer said he felt sick at seeing images of three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi's body being washed up on a Turkish beach. 
 
 "I look at it with profound shame and a monstrous betrayal of who we are and what we wish to be," he told RTÉ Radio One in Ireland. 
 
 "We are in a moment currently now that will be discussed and impacted on in 300 years’ time." 
 
 He said he would open the doors to his family home as a personal response to the growing refugee crisis. 
 
 Play video "Britons Offer To House Syrians" Video: Britons Offer To House Syrians 
 
 "I'm prepared - I'm lucky, I've a place in Kent and a flat in London - me and (partner) Jeanne would be prepared to take three families immediately in our place in Kent and a family in our flat in London, immediately, and put them up until such time as they can get going and get a purchase on their future." 
 
 The dean of York Minster, the Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, has also offered to house a refugee family and has urged the government to offer more support to those fleeing war. 
 
 "I understand Britain is providing considerable help through its overseas aid budget but it is now clear that this is not providing an adequate solution and we need to do more to help those in desperate need," she said. 
 
 Play video "Migrants Begin Walk Towards Border" Video: Migrants Begin Walk Towards Border 
 
 Geldof criticised the limited response from governments to date and said he decided to put his money where his mouth is. 
 
 "I've known, you've known, and everyone listening has known that the b******s we talk about, our values, are complete nonsense," he said. 
 
 "Once it comes home to roost we deny those values, we betray ourselves, but those values are correct, and it happens time and time again. 
 
 Play video "Who Accepts The Most Refugees?" Video: Who Accepts The Most Refugees? 
 
 "So we are better than this, we genuinely are. 
 
 "All of this is happening now. We must have the politics and the humanity to deal with it. It makes me sick and a concert won't do it," he added. 
 
 Both Geldof and Dean Faull made the comments before the UK Prime Minister confirmed that Britain would accept “thousands more” Syrian refugees.
– The drowned 3-year-old who perished as his family tried to flee Syria for safer shores has touched people around the world, including author JK Rowling, who tweeted a welcome message for refugees everywhere, the Guardian reports. "If you can't imagine yourself in one of those boats, you have something missing. They are dying for a life worth living. #refugeeswelcome," Rowling wrote in her tweet yesterday. Other celebrities have also joined the call for Europe to welcome refugees—and rock star Bob Geldof made a pretty incredible offer to house four refugee families. Geldof said in an interview on Ireland's RTE Radio One that he and his partner, Jeanne, have "a place in Kent and a flat in London" they'd be willing to use to "put [four refugee families] up until such time as they can get going and get a purchase on their future," per Sky News. He was spurred into action by what he calls the "absolute sickening disgrace" of little Aylan Kurdi's body washing up on a Turkish shore, the Guardian notes. "I look at it with profound shame and a monstrous betrayal of who we are and what we wish to be," he said in the interview. "We are in a moment currently now that will be discussed and impacted on in 300 years' time." (An anonymous death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald also mourns Aylan.)