The innocuous remark at a public meeting was seized upon by an equality campaigner – and the ensuing race row has lasted six months at a cost to the taxpayer of tens of thousands of pounds.
The trouble began at a gathering of the Wiltshire Involvement Network (WIN), an independent health watchdog, in Potterne Wick, Devizes, when chairman Anna Farquhar, 70, noted that gossip about NHS changes had been spreading within the Health Service, remarking: ‘You cannot help the jungle drums.’
Gossip girls: The trouble began at a gathering of the Wiltshire Involvement Network when Anna Farquhar, 70, noted that gossip about NHS changes had been spreading within the Health Service, remarking: 'You cannot help the jungle drums'
The term comes from the use of wooden drums which were traditionally used in parts of Africa to communicate messages over long distances.
But a member of the public in attendance at the meeting in the local Scout headquarters, Sonia Carr, declared the phrase to be racist. Mrs Farquhar immediately apologised for any offence but Mrs Carr, a member of the Wiltshire Racial Equality Council, was unsatisfied and submitted an official complaint to Wiltshire Council, which launched a costly investigation.'
We all have to pay because of the unbalanced idiocy of a wild-eyed leftie and her loony chums.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354370/How-referring-gossip-jungle-drums-led-month-racism-probe.html#ixzz1DGuOzivw
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354370/How-referring-gossip-jungle-drums-led-month-racism-probe.html#ixzz1DGuOzivw