That famously cuddly Daily Mail scribe, Quentin Letts, was critical of trade unionists' attention spans during Gordon Brown's TUC conference speech. In an article headlined "Miss Slinky Sashayed up the aisle. A hundred hungry eyes followed", Letts referred to "a Miss Slinky from the Guardian" who "kept sashaying up and down the side aisle in a magnificently high skirt, her curves followed hungrily by hundreds of bloodshot eyes. Ah, the Brothers," Letts continued, "Harriet Harman still has some work to do here."
All most amusing, but sources close to Miss Slinky point out that during the PM's speech: (a) it was dark in the auditorium, so any sashaying would have been difficult for eyes, bloodshot or otherwise, to follow; and (b) Miss Slinky wasn't, by then, actually in the auditorium, as her website deadlines meant she was busy in the newsroom filing copy. And as for the Brothers, Letts strangely failed to mention the large number of women trade unionists in the hall.
