Last week brewing company Greene King agreed to change the name of The Midget, a pub in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The pub opened in 1974 as The Magic Midget, but dropped the “Magic” in 2002. It’s named after the classic MG Midget sports car, which used to be made in the town.

However, Greene King was recently presented with a petition calling for the pub to be renamed. This organised whine somehow managed to pick up 1,344 signatures and was started by Dr Erin Pritchard, who is a midget suffers from dwarfism.

So what prompted Dr Pritchard to start her petition and force the pub to change its name? Was she unable to bear the trauma of driving past it on the way to work every day? Was a hot date ruined by the crushing knowledge that she was sitting in a pub called The Midget?

I find this unlikely, because Dr Pritchard is a lecturer in disability studies at Liverpool Hope University and I doubt she’s ever been to Abingdon in her life. The reality is that she’s a professional troublemaker. Apart from writing ground-breaking papers about representations of dwarfism in pantomimes and cartoon series Family Guy, the crowning achievement of her life is badgering Marks & Spencer into rebranding Midget Gems as Mini Gems.

Happily the good people of Abingdon have now started their own petition, this time calling for Greene King to ignore Pritchard’s crybullying and keep the original name. As one resident said, nobody goes into The Midget and thinks it’s named after a little person; “there’s a sign with a picture of the car outside, the pub decor is all about cars.” This new petition has already collected over 3,250 signatures in just six days

If the pub and its sign were cruelly mocking people with dwarfism that would clearly be unacceptable - but it isn’t. It’s named after the town’s most famous product, and the name, like the car, is part of Abingdon’s history. I hope Greene King realise that people like Pritchard never go to neighbourhood pubs anyway, and can be ignored with impunity.

Sign the counter-petition here: