"Some sherry-crazed old dowager" and Silly Walks

British politics. Maybe it's just a Boris Johnson thing (Mayor of London), or maybe this is a broad cultural difference, but could you picture, a month ago, McCain calling Obama "some sherry-crazed old dowager who has lost the family silver at roullette?" Because that's what Boris Johnson said about Gordon Brown.

The London Paper - November 25th
"In a stinging personal assault, the London Mayor said the Prime Minister was:

"like a drunk who has woken to the most appalling hangover, and who reaches for the whisky bottle to help him dull the pain.

"He is like some sherry-crazed old dowager who has lost the family silver at roulette, and who decides to double up by betting the house as well."


It sounds like a fake quote, like something out of the Onion! (or the English version of the Onion - The Daily Mash http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/).

Another reason to love London.

People here are under the impression that American political campaigns are just big celebrity shows (which they are, so fair enough). The question is, would you rather your politics be more like American Idol or Monty Python?

I think I pick Monty Python because that Boris Johnson quote was hilarious. Comparing him to a drunk wasn't enough. He also had to throw in the hangover. And then another whole paragraph full of more name calling and a drunken hypothetical situation.

Anyway... Today I went to Westminster Abbey! Very pretty inside (and outside). Also, speaking of Monty Python, I FINALLY got a few Ministry of Silly Walks pictures. I really wanted it in front of Parliament, and I walk past it on the way to my internship but it's awkward enough to ask a stranger to take your picture, let alone asking a stranger to take your picture doing a silly walk. (And also I've developed an I'm-Not-One-Of-"Those"-Tourists-On-Westminster-Bridge-I'm-Actually-Here-For-Real-Reasons superiority complex so I've refrained from taking pictures on my walks to and from work.) But today I was around Parliament with people I knew, making it slightly less awkward having them take pictures of me doing a silly walk. Still awkward, because neither of them had seen that particular Monty Python, but less awkward none the less.