16 July 2025

This England: Feather Asbo-er

This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain – has run in the New Statesman since 1934.

By New Statesman

Illustration by Marta Signori

A peacock is tormenting residents by ravaging their vegetable patches and waking them with its 5am mating calls. The antisocial bird, nicknamed Percy, has caused mayhem in Marlborough, Wiltshire. “It acts like it owns the place,” said Carolyn Nicholls, 75. “I’ve found peck marks all over our courgettes.” Another local said Percy is “so tatty he’ll never attract a mate”.
Bristol Live (Amanda Welles)

Taking the biscuit

It could be described as a storm in a teacup, but the humble Jaffa Cake is once again at the centre of controversy after McVitie’s asked a biscuit museum to pull the snack from a display. The manufacturer took issue with its treat being showcased among biscuits because, for VAT purposes, it is officially a cake – a debate that was settled long ago with the taxman. Days after the Peek Frean Museum in Bermondsey, London, unveiled the display, McVitie’s sent it a cease-and-desist-style letter requesting “the immediate removal of Jaffa Cakes from your biscuit exhibit”.
Guardian (Kate McIntosh)

Toilet-rolling back the years

A message written on a toilet-roll tube in the 1980s was found by a couple moving into a new home. A youngster had penned her name and birthday on the tube, adding: “Hope you enjoy staying here, love from a friend.” Charlotte England-Black found the message in her loft on moving in to the house in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire. She subsequently tracked down the note’s author, Emma Smith, now 43, who called it “a funny blast from the past”.
Adam Robertson (BBC Essex)