Dear Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.
Signed, Liam Byrne

(Outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury. May 2010)
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Thursday, 1 July 2010

Sorry!

Sorry is often the hardest word to say, and actually mean it.

Maybe Mr Burns MP got it right when he apologised for referring to Mr Bercow (who claims to be 5ft 6ins tall) as a "stupid, sanctimonious dwarf" by saying,
"If I have caused any offence to any group of people then I unreservedly apologise because that was not my intention."
Another apology hitting the headlines is the case of Bristol councillor Shirley Brown, who is black, and who didn't see what was wrong with using a cultural insult to a fellow councillor who is Asian when she said,
“In our culture, we have a word for you... and I am sure many in this city would understand, is [sic] coconut. And at the end of the day I just look at you as that.
A 'coconut' by the way, is a term referring to somebody who 'isn't really black or brown' even though that's their skin colour because they're 'brown on the outside and white in the middle'. It means, according to this urban dictionary
Coconut is British slang for a non-white person who collaborates with the white establishment.
That definition may explain why Shirley Brown is reported to have said
“How can I be racist? I’m black.”
It might also explain why her initial apology was deemed unacceptable and the case ended up in court where
Simon Cooper, the chairman of the bench, declared himself “satisfied that there was a potential for, albeit minor, public disorder and stimulation for racial hatred”. He found Shirley Brown guilty. She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £620 costs.
The reason for her outburst in the first place? Oh, that was because Mrs Jethwa
... thought that to spend £750,000 on education about the slave trade in the middle of a recession made no sense
There's a heck of a lot more Mrs R could say about all this, but for a change she won't - although she does think three quarters of a million is a lot of money. It's money that will probably have been taken from local people in Council Tax or Community Charges, and so should be spent very wisely on local issues or projects that benefit the whole community, whatever their age, gender, race, colour or creed.

Does that make Mrs R racist?
....

4 comments:

JohnRS said...

"Does that make Mrs R racist?"

Are you white?

If you are, then yes, automatically. All white people are racist by definition, all black people are not, and never can be. Those are the rules.

James Higham said...

Blacks are the most racist people I've encountered and I've encountered many.

Barking Spider said...

I'm with James all the way on this - and Diane Abbott proved that she is every bit the racist I suspected her of being when Brillo gave her a damned good roasting on This Week.

Mrs Rigby said...

@ John R - Mrs Rigby once tried to make a complaint, was told she couldn't because she was white and it was not possible to discriminate against white British or English people.

@ James & Barking Spider - We number amongst our friends, acquaintances and colleagues those of many different races and hues. All seem happy 'in their skins' because that's the way they are. But there are those who've been raised to have a chip on their shoulder - it's surprising to see their views, lack of tolerance and lack of awareness, aired on msm.