Green's issue with the beer is that its name and logo (pictured below) are inappropriate in parliament. Apparently she was "disturbed" by the image - I do hope she never goes to the beach - she'd go apoplectic!
She might have had a point. Certainly the name of this prize-winning beer, a true British business success, is a little dodgy and one could claim that the logo of a woman in a bikini top is a bit sexist. It's certainly not the worst beer name or logo I've ever seen but, for a moment, let's give Kate Green the benefit of the doubt.
So she notices the beer on sale, and its logo, and makes a complaint. Fair enough.
But no! NOT fair enough! The Strangers' Bar has been selling Top Totty, with the same logo on the pump, FOR FIVE YEARS!
This raises several questions:
1. Has Kate Green not been in the Strangers' Bar for the past 5 years? Does she NEVER have guests in parliament? If she does, has she NEVER taken them for a drink?
2. Perhaps Kate Green HAS been in the Strangers' Bar but has never gone up to the bar to order or pay for drinks?
3. Maybe Kate Green fails to notice anything around her? In that case, maybe she's not safe to drive? Maybe all her faculties aren't working?
4. She must be aware that her little hissy fit has given Top Totty, and Slater's, the Stafford-based company who brew it, the best publicity they could ever have wanted - in ALL the newspapers, on news bulletins everywhere and without costing them a penny. I do hope it doesn't turn our she has shares in the company!
5. Or maybe there's something else, perhaps more sinister, behind a carefully timed complaint, saved for a special occasion?
Who knows what Kate Green's motivation is. I wonder if it's the start of trouble for Miliband from Harriet Harman's covern - the "female only alternative shadow cabinet"?
Her little tantrum has, of course, worked. The beer has been banned from the Strangers' Bar - the end of five years of sales during which Kate Green was in disturbed until yesterday.
Maybe Kate Green should be offended by Famous Grouse whiskey (on animal rights grounds) or Tia Maria (because it sounds foreign) or India Pale Ale (because she somehow finds it racist) or .... the list could go on.
There is one thing Kate Green could object to... the nearly £10,000 per annum that MPs each get in subsidised food and drink in the bars and restaurants in the Pakace of Westminster. But, oh no, the image of a woman in a bikini top is far more "disturbing" than the financial corruption that MPs still benefit from at tax payers' expense.
I suggest an MP who has failed to notice something for five years is less than competent as a human being and hope the electorate in Stretford and Urmston seriously consider other options at the next election.
It's okay - they have replaced this beer with "Old Bitter Hag".
ReplyDeleteI suspect the timing was to do with the fact that 5 years ago, the Conservatives were not in power. It wouldn't be as fun being professionally offended with a Labour government.
What I find most disturbing is that she wasn't told to get lost. God forbid she ever wonders through the street, watches TV or surfs the internet.
Her constituents are very lucky that this is the most important issue that they face.