The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #173907   Message #4217770
Posted By: DaveRo
22-Feb-25 - 08:12 AM
Thread Name: Is 'black as any moor' acceptable?
Subject: RE: Is 'black as any moor' acceptable?
Purple?
"Under the headline 'the racist binliner is blacked', Chester Stern claimed in the Mail on Sunday that 'black bin liners have been banned at Bernie Grant's left-wing Haringey council because the are 'racially offensive'. This was supported by an alleged statement from an anonymous 'storeman' at the north London council's central depot and by a quote from a councillor who said, 'there was no written ban on the use of black sacks' but added that the council had 'a strong anti-racist policy'. Stern ended his piece with: 'The council has now changed over to grey sacks to avoid offending West Indian workers in the cleaning department'.""The report, notwithstanding the citation of an anonymous source, is without substance. The council had not decided to ban black bin liners. Indeed, days after the article appeared, the Civic Services Committee accepted a tender from a local supplier of black bin liners, since these were the cheapest on offer. Stern, of course, could not have known about this decision, since it was taken after he wrote the report for the Mail on Sunday. Chester Stern was not available for comment…""On 9th March 1986 the Mail on Sunday published a small and misleading 'update' on the binliners story. Under the headline 'Race peace in the bag' on 9th March 1986 we learn that 'black dustbin liners at the centre of a council race storm are not to be banned after all'. What had previously been presented as fact was repeated as such by Today, is now presented as a proposal subsequently withdrawn. "
(Clice Soley, MP, from Hansard)