English Eccentricities…

I found this article in 'The Times', a well respected English newspaper…..I cant quite make up my mind as to whether I want to laugh or cry!
Note: It gets even more hilarious, when you remember that in the UK, ‘bird’, is a term sometimes used in reference to women. (Not the most complementary of phrases, I hasten to add.)

‘Farm hunt for ugliest turkey gets the bird’

Feathers are flying at the National Farmers’ union over a competition to identify the country’s ugliest turkey.
It started as a stunt to help promote sales, but has upset producers, who say that their birds are beautiful.
The NFU published its poll, Don’t fancy your bird much, on its website this week, inviting visitors to vote for the black, white or bronze turkey.
Tim Bennett, the NFU president, said “The turkey…is not blessed with much in the way of charisma. Males or stags, have red or blue skin around their neck called caruncles and a long fleshy appendage from their head called a snood. They really are unusual.”
He has voted the white ugliest. “It’s a beady-eyed, evil-looking thing, that will only start looking better when it’s fully dressed for the dinner table this Christmas”, Mr Bennett said last night.
Mark Bailey, 45, who rears 100,000 turkeys on a farm near Knutsford, Cheshire, has complained to the union about the competition. He said “I really don’t think turkeys are ugly. I’ve been rearing them all my life and I think they are a lovely bird. I especially like to see the male display to attract the females. If you catch the birds in sunlight they are beautiful. Personally, I prefer the bronze turkey.”

Valerie Elliot, Countryside Editor.