Our weekly round-up of outlandish and interesting information collected from the corners of the charity sector.
Good news for one Birmingham charity, but which one?
For a change it was the American, rather than the British right-wing press that caught Diary’s attention. And not just Diary’s in fact but most of the UK Twitter population after a “terrorism expert” on the Fox News channel declared Birmingham a “totally Muslim city where non-Muslims simply don’t go”. Cue UK journalists rapidly scrambling film crews to the Midlands to film white people enjoying a curry and chinwag with their Muslim neighbours.
The backlash, both on social media and on UK broadcasters, was so fierce that Steve Emerson was forced to issue a lengthy apology, in which he said he wouldn’t dream of blaming his researchers (clearly insinuating that it was his researcher’s fault).
Anyway he has promised to donate to a Birmingham charity by way of apology. To help him decide where to put his money, Diary has a few suggestions:
- British Hedgehog Preservation Society – what could be more British and inclusive than our fondness for this spiky nocturnal creature?
- African Oyster Trust – because what is life without oysters?
- Think Tank Trust – providing research about providing research?
The biggest loser is…
Bulldog Daisy (pictured) has won PDSA’s prestigious pet slimmer of the year award after taking part in the 2014 pet fit club.
Daisy has lost an impressive one quarter of her body weight. How did she do it? Daisy’s owner said she bribed the podgy pooch with ham to encourage her to exercise. Diary wonders if the same technique works for humans?
Hurd’s a no-show
Diary was eagerly watching Parliament’s video stream earlier this week in anticipation of Rob Wilson’s appearance before the joint committee considering the Protection of Charities Bill, which includes past minister for civil society Nick Hurd, hopeful that the encounter would provide an amusing anecdote for this column.
But alas Hurd did not appear at the session. Perhaps he was simply busy, but Diary prefers to speculate that Wilson’s aides may have been fearful that Hurd’s superior knowledge of the sector may have been all too apparent and locked him in a cupboard for the duration of the session.
