Jaunted

London / Animals / → All Tags

Beak Cool, Mayor Ken

New York and London, as leading cities in their respective hemispheres, have a lot in common: Booming real estate prices, a sweltering subway system in the summer, and mayors who think that they know best. While New York's Mayor Bloomberg has focused on getting cigarettes out of bars and Mr. Softee's ever-present jingle off the streets, London Mayor Ken Livingstone is fighting the scourge of the squab.

Yes, Mayor Livingstone--often known as Red Ken in the British press for his socialist leanings--is fighting the pigeons of Trafalgar Square, calling them "rats with wings" and shutting down pigeon-food business in the area. He has succeeded in halving the population, but now he's enraged at a pigeon-advocacy group. They were previously allowed to feed the pigeons in the square once a day for ten minutes in the evening, but the Mayor discovered that they were not adhering to the agreement; splinter groups among the pigeon feeders were feeding them at inappropriate times. Horror! Intrigue! Pigeon splinter groups!  

An official in the London government explained the problem thusly:

"The real fight is among themselves," the official continued, comparing the apparent discord within the pigeon group to the picayune disagreements between the Judean People's Front, the People's Front of Judea, and the Judean Popular People's Front in the film "Monty Python's Life of Brian."

It remains to be seen what will happen the birds, but wouldn't all disputes in city government be more easily resolved if officials compared them to scenes from a Monty Python film?

[Image via nascity/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Pigeons May Coo, But Aren't Cute [NYT]