Anne Marie Morris MP had the whip withdrawn for five months for using the same idiom in 2017, on Theresa May’s orders. A former colleague of mine (who was a total arsehole) was ‘spoken to’ for using it in a client meeting, circa 1990.
If you’re in your mid 50s, possibly a little younger, it’s an idiom that’s lurking in the recesses of your memory. I’d be 99% sure that neither of the politicians intended to shock or ‘meant anything by it’, or indeed knew its grim etymology (I certainly didn’t until now). They simply opened their mouths to say ‘…haystack’ and out came ‘…woodpile’.
Not so sure about my arsehole ex-colleague, though.
I’m surprised Boris hasn’t made him a lord; he’s doing everything he can to distract from his criminality, lying, and his failing leadership.
Standard operating procedure in Conservative local politics when there’s any wrongdoing from their members:
1. Suspend for six months
2. wait for fuss to die down
3. Reinstate
Doesn’t matter what it is: racism, fraud, touching kids, animal sacrifice – just follow the three steps!
What’s the alternative to him being reinstated? That he is cancelled from public life for good? He made a racist remark, which he apologized for and has undergone diversity training. I’m not sure what permanently ostracizing someone for a mistake like this would achieve.
Wtf lol, watched it on YT. I clicked the article thinking it was probably not that bad, then read what he claimed to want to say and tried to guess what he said and thought “no way”. Elderly (?), Tory and Lincolnshire – bingo, I guess (no, not saying everyone in those groups is like this, but they’re all commonly associated with it in a lot of people’s minds).
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Anne Marie Morris MP had the whip withdrawn for five months for using the same idiom in 2017, on Theresa May’s orders. A former colleague of mine (who was a total arsehole) was ‘spoken to’ for using it in a client meeting, circa 1990.
If you’re in your mid 50s, possibly a little younger, it’s an idiom that’s lurking in the recesses of your memory. I’d be 99% sure that neither of the politicians intended to shock or ‘meant anything by it’, or indeed knew its grim etymology (I certainly didn’t until now). They simply opened their mouths to say ‘…haystack’ and out came ‘…woodpile’.
Not so sure about my arsehole ex-colleague, though.
I’m surprised Boris hasn’t made him a lord; he’s doing everything he can to distract from his criminality, lying, and his failing leadership.
Standard operating procedure in Conservative local politics when there’s any wrongdoing from their members:
1. Suspend for six months
2. wait for fuss to die down
3. Reinstate
Doesn’t matter what it is: racism, fraud, touching kids, animal sacrifice – just follow the three steps!
What’s the alternative to him being reinstated? That he is cancelled from public life for good? He made a racist remark, which he apologized for and has undergone diversity training. I’m not sure what permanently ostracizing someone for a mistake like this would achieve.
Wtf lol, watched it on YT. I clicked the article thinking it was probably not that bad, then read what he claimed to want to say and tried to guess what he said and thought “no way”. Elderly (?), Tory and Lincolnshire – bingo, I guess (no, not saying everyone in those groups is like this, but they’re all commonly associated with it in a lot of people’s minds).