Top Totty beer banned from House of Commons bar

[T_i_B]

I have to say that I've seen far far worse smutty pumpclips then this one. Great publicity for Slaters brewery though. Brewdog will be very jealous.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9056914/Top-Totty-beer-banned-from-House-of-Commons-bar-in-case-if-offends-women.html

Shadow equalities minister Kate Green was left ''disturbed'' after seeing the 4 per cent ale's advertising in the popular parliamentary watering hole and demanded bar staff remove it from sale.

A barman told the Press Association: ''I can confirm it was withdrawn from sale at 1.30pm.''

The bitter backlash developed after Ms Green told the Commons: ''I was disturbed last night to learn that the guest beer in the Strangers' Bar is called Top Totty and there is a picture of a nearly naked woman on the tap.''

[Owlet]

1. Sheesh..she looks like my 8th grade teacher

..Miss Crowder. This is Ms. Green.



I was terrified of that woman. She hated boys, especially gangly ones like me. Ah, well..that was long ago. C'mon, Kate - have a Top Totty with me and lighten up

[baldguy]

2. Is Labour the party of uptight prudes on the UK?

[dipsydoodle]

3. On BBC Radio 2 this morning

they referred to it as Top Totty Blond and I was trying to figure which MP they meant : clearly not Ms Green.

[LeftishBrit]

6. I was worried for a moment that they were referring to my twit of an MP!

Nicola Blackwood, or as I call her, Nicola Blockhead. Some people do call her a 'Tory Totty'.

[oldironside]

4. What would she have made of this?

[T_i_B]

5. Like I said......

...there are far worse pumpclips out there then Slater's Top Totty, and the worst ones are often the smutty ones.

Here's a blog which records some of the worst offenders, run by a man with the same (lack of) humour as Kate Green

http://pumpclipparade.blogspot.com/

And also, I shold point out that my local pub has decided to stock "Top Totty" as a result of this controversy. Slaters Brewery will most likely get increased sales out of this.

[dipsydoodle]

7. If you search funny beer names

you'll some hilarious ones.

Won't just be Slaters : the others will join into I'm guessing.

[truebrit71]

8. Bloody stupid....

...of all the things to get her knickers in a twist about...

[Anarcho-Socialist]

9. Fair comment I think

Whether or not she's a "killjoy" is rather subjective.

"Totty" as a term has its own history when it comes to female MPs. Many Parliamentarians have been dismissed by others and condescendingly branded as "totty" just because they happened to be female.

The culture at Westminster is very masculine and Ms Green may see this as an example of its traditional sexism.

[LeftishBrit]

10. I have actually come across the term 'Tory Totty' used of male as well as female politicians

Though probably more commonly of females.

I see your point, but I think that having a beer called 'Top Totty' is a symptom, not a cause, of the rather trivial, laddish, sometimes just childish - and, from what I've heard, hard-drinking - culture that is common to the House of Commons. I'm much more bothered about the way Cameron can't reply to ANYTHING at PMQ with anything of substance, and without petty sneering at someone else, usually but not always Ed Miliband. Of course all party leaders do it and always have; but Cameron takes it to an unusually low level. I mean - all the problems with the NHS bill, and all Davy is concerned about is whether Miliband or Lansley has better career prospects.

(Yes I do a lot of sneering about Davy et al, I suppose; but apart from other considerations, I'm not Prime Minister!)

At any rate, the Lansley Bill seems to be running into more trouble than ever. If it goes down, that really will be the Dog's Bollocks!

[T_i_B]

11. House of Commons culture has nothing whatsoever to do with this

Last edited Thu Feb 9, 2012, 03:59 AM - Edit history (1)

It stems more from general pub culture (real ale pubs inparticular have been very "male" places for many years and that's only recently started to change). If Ms Green had complained about such a pumpclip in a typical pub then there is a good chance that she would simply be told to fuck off by the landlord.

It also stems from the need to name a blonde beer. All too often a brewer will resort the ancient blonde stereotypes when thinking up a name for a blonde ale.

And also, when you consider that the House of Commons has a guest ales policy that goes beyond the likes of Marston's Pedigree and Greedy King "IPA" it's inevitable that at some point a naff pumpclip will arrive on their bar.

There's enough rubbish pumpclips out there, even if the trend of late has been for very plain pumpclips and labels . The fact that this was on the bar as a result of MP's showcasing breweries from their own cnstituencies only increases that liklihood. Be glad that they didn't have anything from Northumberland or Wyre Piddle breweries on the bar.

You might ask why the House of Commons needs it's own bar in the first place as other places of work certainly don't but that's a fight for another day really.