Hello once again, dear reader (perhaps now singular?). This week, Diary is concerned over the apparent demise of the bird-themed social media app, which has been its go-to way of spreading the charity sector love. Some civil society types have announced their exile to Mastodon but, as a social media hipster, Diary might give the Matt Hancock app another go. Talking of the man, what a week he's had.
Before we get into that, though, there’s a new kid on the block in charity land.
Another week, another civil society minister. Diary becomes increasingly impressed by the Mary-Poppin’s-bag nature of the brief. Not only must newbie Stuart Andrew get to grips with civil society, sport, tourism, youth, equalities and loneliness – but also the King’s Coronation, Unboxed (“the festival of Brexit”) and (most importantly) Eurovision.
This columnist would hope the mix of responsibilities would grant every member of civil society a free ticket to Eurovision, though is informed this is ‘not how it works’ by the editor and to ‘get back to work’.
Matt Hancock
As you may have failed to avoid seeing, former health secretary Matt Hancock swapped the corridors of Westminster for the Australian outback this week by joining I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
Seeing the man responsible for the health of millions during the pandemic speak of eating bums was not on this columnist's 2022 bingo card, and is something Diary would like to erase from their memory altogether.
Hancock is set to profit £400,000 from the stint, which is helpful as he lost his job from doing it. However, he told the Sun that he intends to donate some of the proceeds to causes supporting dementia and dyslexia.
In response, JustGiving has taken the liberty of creating a donation page for him with a target of £400,000 to raise money for St Nicholas Hospice and the British Dyslexia Association. How thoughtful!
Diary will be checking back to see if Hancock donates to this page following his appearance, or whether he’ll be too busy recovering from a myriad of bushtucker trials. Let's hope it's both.
Poppy Day
In other news, the Royal British Legion is planning to scrap its plastic stems for a more biodegradable material – fibreboard – in the coming years.
A big yay for sustainability - and a big yay for the Cookie Monster, who complained of the plastic stem stabbing his stuffing on The One Show when he wore a poppy in remembrance. (This information may be entirely based on Diary's memory and/or imagination).
Twitter account Poppy Watch, which collates some of the more unusual ways to commemorate soldiers lost in conflict, tweeted some poppy-themed boxing gloves on sale so you can beat your opponent with #respect and make sure they do not #forget the #fallen.
Pummel your opponent’s face with #respect and #poignancy as you remembrance the #Fallen with these knock-out Poppy boxing gloves! 🥊 pic.twitter.com/CGtEcslZ0G
— Poppy® Watch (@giantpoppywatch) October 30, 2022
John Lewis, the advert, and John Lewis, the man
John Lewis dropped its eagerly-anticipated Christmas advert yesterday which shows a clumsy foster parent practising his skateboarding ability.
The heartwarming ad is in partnership with two charities – Action for Children and Who Cares? Scotland.
But spare a though for the retailer's namesake, an American father of four and computer science teacher.
John Lewis (the retailer) reached out to the man, John Lewis (yes, this may get confusing), to apologise in advance as his Twitter mentions were soon to blow up due to the advert's release.
This is not Lewis' first rodeo, having been confused for the retailer by Twitter user in many previous years when the Christmas advert is revealed. In his now trademark dry wit (what a guy), he thanked the retailer and said he loved the ad.
Lewis makes a point to clarify in his bio that he is not, in fact, a retail store and that his pronouns are he/him/your majesty, a suffix Diary will be adding to their email signature.
Jam or cream first?
On a more serious note, a tale as old as the chicken or the egg reared its ugly head this week.
National Trust's director of communications Celia Richardson posted a photo of her cream scone and chaos ensued.
Children cried everywhere and this columnist was almost sick so had to retire home to bedlam. No, Diary is not being dramatic or ‘opportunistic’ as one employee suggested.
Richardson had committed the cardinal of all pudding sins. She had put the cream on the scone first, then the jam.
After the backlash, Diary found out who to disown at Civil Society Towers, as some employees recounted they ate their scones the same way. Disgraceful.
Richardson issued an apology to all of Cornwall and half of Great Britain shortly after.
What sort of fool decides to end a fractious month at the National Trust by posting a picture of a cream tea? According to my timeline I now need to apologise to Cornwall and possibly half of Great Britain.
— Celia Richardson (@CeliaRichards0n) November 9, 2022
Guys, I’m sorry. https://t.co/6JbEkOBgOe
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