Anorak

Anorak News | Daily Mail Sparks Midsomer Murders Race War In Worlingham, Suffolk: A Golliwog In The Window

Daily Mail Sparks Midsomer Murders Race War In Worlingham, Suffolk: A Golliwog In The Window

by | 7th, September 2011

JENNA Mason has been arrested and charged with racially aggravated harassment’ for placing a golliwog in the window of her home. Her next door neighbour in Worlingham, Suffolk, is one Rosemarie O’Donnell. Mrs O’Donnell is black. Mrs Mason is white.

Before this latest episode the pair had been in dispute. Mrs Mason and her husband Terry want to erect stables on their land. Mrs O’Donnell and her husband Stephen are against it.
Says Stephen:

“It’s not a children’s toy. You can see it has buttons and other items on it. It was clearly deliberately placed on the window sill facing out of the window. I do not believe it was casually tossed up there. It has caused immense upset. You live in the countryside and you think you have got away from all this nonsense. I would much rather they went after me with a baseball bat rather than insulting my children and wife. We came to East Anglia because we thought it was beautiful, scenic and very safe with an extremely low level of crime.”

Baseball bat?! In Suffolk? Alas. This is modern village life, readers. Not a cricket bat in sight – to say nothing of rounders. For shame!

Mrs Mason’s solicitor James Hartley tells media:

“There have been various disputes between the O’Donnells and the Masons. Mrs Mason denies acting in a racial or abusive manner. The golly toy belongs to Mrs Mason’s 16-month-old grandson and was put on the window sill along with other items while she was tidying up. There was no malicious or racial intention on the part of Mrs Mason and it is regrettable that the matter has been blown out of proportion.”

Anorak wonders how many children in Suffolk have a golliwog toy? And if this is what happens when you grow up watching Midsomer Murders and reading the Daily Mail, which headlines this story:

Neighbours at war over a golliwog in the window: Gran, 65, on race hate charge in planning dispute with manor house owner and his black wife

Do you see, readers. The woman with the golliwog is a “gran”. Her age is given. The other woman is black. Her age is not given. Gran’s colour is not given. The black lives in a manor house. The big house is, apparently, not hers. It belongs to the “manor house’s owner”. His colour is not given. But he sounds rich, doesn’t he? Why can’t she be the manor house owner? Is it because she’s black and her husband is white? And in any case, the Mail’s loaded headline is wrong – Mrs Mason lives in the manor house; the black woman lives in a converted barn.

Now, Mail readers – where do your sympathies lie..?

For a history of the golliwog please read this.



Posted: 7th, September 2011 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (12) | TrackBack | Permalink