Colander

[Gob]

A black MP has said she was the victim of racism in Westminster when she was mistaken as a cleaner by an MP.

Dawn Butler told BBC 5 Radio Live she was in a members-only lift when an unnamed Commons member told her: "This lift really isn't for cleaners."

The Labour MP for Brent Central said it had been one of "so many incidents" of racism she had encountered while in Parliament.

The 46-year-old became an MP in 2005 and was re-elected last year.


Former London mayor Ken Livingstone said that for Ms Butler to be confronted in such a manner was "ridiculous" as "she was elected years ago" and "gets up and speaks" in the chamber.

Ms Butler, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, has previously described other instances of racism in the Commons.

Writing for the Fawcett Society in 2008, she said she was once confronted by a former minister who queried whether she was allowed in the members area on the terrace.

She wrote that when she told him she was an MP, he replied: "They're letting anybody in nowadays."

[Gob]

No takers on the "colander" title?

[MajGenl.Meade]

No

[Sue U]

???

[MajGenl.Meade]

Pastafarians is it?

[Joe Guy]

[Burning Petard]

I love the scepter

[Sue U]

Why isn't he dressed as a pirate?

[Gob]

I was inferring her story; "has more holes in it than a colander..."

Anybody spot them?

[MajGenl.Meade]

No, you're implying.

[TPFKA@W]

I think you are implying, not inferring, and you are going to have to explain your holes.

[Sue U]

I think you are implying, not inferring, and you are going to have to explain your holes.

That's not really the kind of question you'd want to ask Gob, @w. Particularly because he's likely to give you an answer.

[Gob]

to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence:

I hard read her story, and inferred that she was telling porkies.

[Gob]

I think you are implying, not inferring, and you are going to have to explain your holes.

That's not really the kind of question you'd want to ask Gob, @w. Particularly because he's likely to give you an answer.

Spoilsport.

[Sue U]

I hard read her story, and inferred that she was telling porkies.

She may be; she didn't identify any of the alleged offenders. On the other hand, if she had identified them, do you think they'd admit it?

On the whole, however, it's not even a "news" story. Is there some reason this should be brought to the world's attention?

ETA:

Spoilsport.

Oh, like I could even stop you anyway?

[MajGenl.Meade]

to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence:

I hard read her story, and inferred that she was telling porkies.

Reading's almost as tough as writing, eh?

You made an inference (all to your sweet self) when you read the article. Then you posed the article with Subject (colander) implying that you thought there were holes in her story. That is the implication of your title and you expected us to infer the same as you had inferred.

Now, as to the holes....

[Gob]

Ah well, fer all yer book learnin you aint that smart...

[Gob]

I'll start the ball rolling then....

If you are a more-lefty-than-Karl-Marx black Labour MP and you are subjected to a "racist slur", by being called a "cleaner", do you:

a) Sit and brood on it for 5+ years, then feel the need to get it off your chest on a radio interview?

b) Run screaming "racism, racism, oh my god please help me, racism, racism, racism, I was called a "cleaner" by a fellow MP!!!!!" to the nearest Guardian reporter?

[Scooter]

If it's just one more in a series of racist insults you've had to deal with all of your life, then yeah, you might just tend to swallow it along with all the rest. What on earth could possibly make you think that you have any insight into how victims of racism deal with it?

Are you also one of those people who look with suspicion on rape victims who don't run to a police station 30 seconds after being attacked?

[Lord Jim]

Of course we have nothing but her word to go on that this actually even happened...