Happy Friday dear readers! With December well under way, this column expects you have now been overcome with Christmas spirit, counting down the days until the season of kindness, giving and drunken arguments with family members is officially upon us. Most of Society Diary’s living room has been taken up by a Nordic spruce, at the necessary expense of the dining table, Diary’s acoustic guitar, and a decent view of the television from the sofa.
But if the spirit of Saint Nicholas has yet to grab you by the baubles, dear readers, then have no fear, for Diary has a great playlist of charity Christmas videos to share with you.
First up, is a soaring rendition of Santa Baby by celebrity porn star Brooklyn Blue, who originally came to fame in 2015 when she was kicked off TV’s The X Factor after the studio’s security guard recognised her from his favourite adult films and proudly mentioned this to the show’s squeaky clean bosses.
Simon Cowell’s loss appears to be the charity sector’s gain, however, as this week RSPCA and Crisis endorsed her latest single, all profits from which will be shared between the two organisations.
The music video is festive blend of the self-described Princess of Porn pole dancing in a club with a clip of a pair of adorable pug dogs wearing Christmas bandanas while frolicking in the snow.
Thank you so much for fundraising for us! Your voice is amazing and we love your pooches' cameo :D
— RSPCA (England & Wales) (@RSPCA_official) 7 December 2017
Thanks so much for your support, Brooklyn! Love the video!
— Crisis (@crisis_uk) 7 December 2017
If that sounds like too much excitement for a Friday afternoon, then Diary would suggest readers at least take note of the last minute of the video where Brooklyn makes a genuinely heartfelt pledge to her viewers to buy the single and help raise money for the charities.
Diary looks forward to sharing this video with Grandma Diary on Christmas day after the Queen’s Speech. The true spirit of Christmas is about giving, after all.
Sheeran showered with awards
And now to a different kind of porn.
It’s been a big week for the UK’s greatest ginger rock star, Ed Sheeran (sorry Mick Hucknall), who won two prestigious awards.
The first was an MBE, which the 26-year-old was awarded for “services to music and charity”. Sheeran’s charity work includes being an ambassador for East Anglia's Children's Hospices, which covers his hometown.
But it was his work for Comic relief that earned Sheeran his second award of the week. His Red Nose Day appeal video from earlier this year was awarded the Rusty Radiator gong at the annual Radi-Aid awards, which celebrates and reprehends the best and worst development charity fundraising videos, often referred to as "poverty porn".
The judges’ comments were harsh: “This is a video is about Ed Sheeran. It’s literally poverty tourism. The video should be less about Ed shouldering the burden alone but rather appealing to the wider world to step in. Massive improvement in the end. But is Ed Sheeran willing to pay for the boy's housing forever? What an irresponsible thing to do, and for this video to glorify that is terrible.”
In contrast, the Golden Radiator prize was awarded to War Child Holland’s sweet video, which features a child hanging out with a man dressed as batman to a soundtrack of Queen’s You’re My Best Friend.
Radi-Aid, originally called Radiator Aid, came to fame in 2012 with its Band Aid-aping song and music video Africa for Norway. The video calls on Africa to help Norwegians suffering from frostbite. “We need to collect our radiators, ship them over there, and spread some warmth,” it says.
A proud moment for the sector
And sorry to dampen the gently mulling Christmas cheer, but Diary feels the need to briefly mention one of the week’s political events.
Fresh from threatening to resign last week for his colleague’s God-given right to watch Brooklyn Blue videos during his lunch break, Brexit secretary David Davis this week announced that the government has not undertaken any assessments of the potential impact Brexit could have on the country's different sectors.
A few months back, charities were furious at being forgotten by the government as civil society was not listed as one of the sectors the government had analysed.
So Davis’ latest statement / admittance of a gargantuan lie, creates a new watermark for charities feeling ignored by ministers. The government has now managed to annoy the sector by forgetting to include charities in an incredibly important but entirely imaginary piece of work.
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