Gingerbread man? No, it's gingerbread person

The Shropshire home of gingerbread today hit back at council bureaucrats who took away the biscuit's manhood.

Council bosses in Lancashire have renamed gingerbread men gingerbread persons in their latest menus for the area's primary school meals.

But people in Market Drayton have described the news as "very sad" and have called on the PC Brigade to stop meddling with tradition.

Councillor Roger Hughes, of Market Drayton, says the name change represents everything that is wrong with the country.

He said: "I don't understand people's views on wanting to change it. What is wrong with using the name people have used for years?

"I think changing the name is very sad. Every time something like this happens it costs money which we haven't got."

A Market Drayton resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "My personal opinion is that it is wrong to start changing the name of the gingerbread man.

"I can understand that it comes across as a bit sexist but it has always been the gingerbread man and people still refer to that today."

Parents in Lancashire said they were were astonished when they discovered the change with some describing it as "absolutely ridiculous" and "almost offensive".

Lancashire County Council confirmed the gingerbread man would be back on school menus.

It is not the first time the gingerbread man's gender has come under threat from political correctness.

In 2006 branches of Bakers Oven in the West Midlands changed the name of gingerbread men to gingerbread persons, but reversed the decision after opposition from the public.

Laura Midgley, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, added: "It is totally ridiculous political correctness, nobody wants to talk about gingerbread people. They are what they are. It is not just an innocent mistake. Whoever did it, I hope they will think long and hard about it.

"If these sorts of things go unchallenged, they become the norm."

By James Pugh