Unintentionally true headline: “London charity stunt harks back to days of ‘freemen’“:
Being a freeman of the City of London used to mean strolling around with your sword unsheathed, getting as drunk as you liked and driving your sheep across London Bridge for free.
But while the first two privileges have long since lapsed, on Friday the city’s freemen reasserted their sheep-driving rights before a crowd of bemused onlookers.
Remember: carrying live steel and an escort when drunk are privileges; herding sheep is a right.
Some privileges apparently deserve to remain in abeyance. As for carrying an unsheathed sword in a city unnerved by a spate of stabbings, Craig advised freemen against it.
“Oh God no!” he exclaimed. “With all this knife crime, that would be terrible.”
From Great Britain.
