13 tweets designed to mock Brooks Newmark’s knitting comments
Howard Lake | 4 September 2014 | Blogs
Comments yesterday by Brooks Newmark MP on what he considered the proper role of charities did not go down well with many charities, their staff, advisors and supporters.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the new Minister for Civil Society said that charities “should “stick to their knitting” instead of getting drawn into the “realm of politics””. Conservative MP Newmark then added:
“When they stray into the realm of politics that is not what they are about and that is not why people give them money.”
While some expressed their disgust at a charity sector Minister’s patronising and sexist tone and views on the role of charities in society and politics, others took to Twitter to make their point with a mixture of disdain and wit, including the creation of the hashtag #knitgate.
Here are some of them:
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Thanks for the advice Brooks -we’ve finished our #knitting so will get back to campaigning now http://t.co/1dF4vD3bkm pic.twitter.com/kgrgEK8iE7
— Fawcett Society (@fawcettsociety) September 4, 2014
Concerned for our clients – there are no #knitting preference fields #CRM so it will be hard to see emerging patterns #boomboom #knitgate — Purple Vision (@purple_vision) September 4, 2014
Brooks Newmark MP thinks this is what charity workers should do… #knitting Tell him what you really do! @TweetBrooks pic.twitter.com/UYkOepGcSF
— UniteForOurSociety (@Unite4Society) September 4, 2014
Considering @TimeBank launching a new volunteer led mentoring course for knitters that could help charities in need?! #knitgate — Helen Walker (@HelenTimeBank) September 4, 2014
If charities should stay out of politics they might start by refusing to engage with Brook Newmark #knitting
— Neil Crowther (@neilmcrowther) September 4, 2014
We’re concerned by remarks today about charities “staying out of politics”. For a start, none of our campaigns team can knit #knitgate — Living Streets (@livingstreets) September 4, 2014
… Still, I’m sure someone from the charitable sector could find time to knit him a moral compass. #BrooksNewmark
— Chris Connaughton (@intextchris) September 4, 2014
Shall we knit Brooks Newmark a potted history of the sector for which he is now Minister? #sticktoknitting #BrooksNewmark #putitonablanket — Sohila Sawhney (@SohilaSawhney) September 4, 2014
I suspect the #thirdsector today will mainly be coming up with knitting puns. #knitgate #knitwit #knithoodforbrooks
— Daniel Jones (@dmjonesoir) September 4, 2014
I like to knit but care bout social justice more. Perhaps I’ll just start political knitting instead. #knitgate pic.twitter.com/wHZ5BCHRHK — Maria Castellina (@Ramblingmaria) September 4, 2014
Charities should stick to knitting? Already on it 😉 #tbt to our #woolyouhelp #yarnbomb campaign #knitgate pic.twitter.com/79sE0ZDsDB
— Society of St James (@SSJCharity) September 4, 2014
Thanks for suggestion @TweetBrooks – we are trying to change the world, one stitch at a time. #knittinggate #knitgate pic.twitter.com/eN5L8CoytM — WaterAid UK (@WaterAidUK) September 4, 2014
Brooks Newmark is right; I’d have achieved so much more when I was a policy manager at a charity if I’d actually been Chief Knitting Officer
— Sally Percy (@sally_ah_percy) September 3, 2014
Some of these are so good, they could be entered for a Knitting magazine’s competition which has just been announced:
We’ll be choosing our #top5makes tomorrow at 2pm – tweet us pics of your finished #knitting from the last two weeks and you could win! — Let’s Knit magazine (@Letsknitmag) September 4, 2014
Two parody accounts
The controversy has also generated two Twitter accounts parodying the Minister:
Tweets by @TwatBrookes
Tweets by @BrookesKnitmark
Now, if the Minister had chosen instead to accuse charities of spending a little bit too long on Twitter, then he might have had a point…
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.