Sexism does exist!

I'm not given to thinking that sexism is necessarily as prevalent as it is made out to be. However, there are stupid and insensitive people around. Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone called out fire crews as a motor jammed on her boiler causing it to spark, shake and make noises. She dialled 999 for what she thought was an emergency.

However, Brian Coleman, the Conservative chairman of London's fire authority, is reported as saying she wasted fire service time and should have called a plumber. He said it was "a waste of time and money". "You don't call the fire brigade - you switch your boiler off and call a plumber. She has shown herself to be completely dizzy," he opined!

Now only quite recently there was a terrible explosion in some flats in which eight people were injured in an explosion at a block of flats in Wigan, two of them critically. No worries for Mr.Coleman - "Just call a plumber!".

By jumping to conclusions, Mr.Coleman does himself no favours. But by adding comments like "completely dizzy" and basically denigrating Ms Featherstone, he shows he's no gentleman either!

As the fire chief said, "If it's obvious that there has been an ongoing problem with the boiler, then you can call a plumber. But if your boiler suddenly starts making strange noises in the middle of the night, call the fire brigade."