CNN takes a rare look beyond the borders of the Homeland to chronicle Britain’s long, proud tradition of throwing disgusting things in politicians’ faces. It’s not exactly news, but it beats the hell out of this, so we’ll call it a step in the right direction:
Here’s an excerpt:
Friday’s custard attack by an environmental campaigner on UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson was the latest episode in a rich British tradition of political splatterings.
The protester, aligned with the anti-airport expansion group Plane Stupid, stepped forward to greet Mandelson as he stepped out of his ministerial car Friday morning, before hurling the green gunk concealed within a coffee cup straight into the minister’s face.
[…] In recent years, British politicians have lived in fear of Fathers 4 Justice, the group behind a series of high profile stunts to raise awareness about the issues faced by fathers separated from their children after family breakups.
In 2004, the group successfully targeted Tony Blair, hitting the then-prime minister with condoms filled with purple flour as he spoke in the House of Commons.
Why purple flour? Why not purple flour?
Though this kind of political activism doesn’t seem to have caught on in the U.S. — probably because nobody wants to be the first pie-tosser locked up at Guantanamo — my own native Quebec is home to the Entartistes, a group of self-described anarchist “creaminals” who have hurled pies into the faces of a sitting prime minister, two provincial premiers, several cabinet ministers, and two Montreal mayors.
Declaring that “the pie is the limit,” their site even allows visitors to vote for the public figure they think most needs a lemon-meringue makeover. Topping the list at the moment is former press baron Conrad Black, also known as “Lord Black of Crossharbour” and “Inmate #18330-424″ at the Coleman Federal Correction Complex in Florida.
Image via The Telegraph.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Nick Langford // Mar 7, 2009 at 10:55 am
Why purple flour? Initially eggs were considered; flour was an ironic post-feminist reference to the flour-bombing of Bob Hope at the 1970 Miss World Pageant in London. The recipe was flour, plus purple icing colourant, plus purple glitter, and a packet of Mates condoms (because careful testing showed that brand to be the most fragile).
2 mark // Mar 7, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Thanks for the explanation, Nick! That’s brilliant! Or at least, it would be if I approved of this sort of thing. : )
Leave a Comment