Councillor, 70, who called herself the 'n***** in the woodpile' is sent on equality and diversity course

It was once a common expression.  I would have used it myself in the old days

A 70-year-old councillor who called herself ‘the n***** in woodpile’ has been sent on an equality and diversity course.

Convent-educated Elizabeth Peters used the offensive term while speaking to a member of the public after a Stroud District Council meeting.

The grandmother, who runs a bed and breakfast in Brimscombe, Gloucestershire, and organises the village fete, apologised but said the phrase was commonly used when she was young.

She said: ‘I’m 70 and grew up with this kind of thing. It was just something which slipped out. It was not directed at anyone except myself.   ‘There were no foreigners around. I have already apologised to the two people who were upset.

The phrase, used as a metaphor to describe a hidden fact or problem, originally referred to fugitive slaves who hid in piles of firewood in the American Deep South in the mid-19th century.

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