Home Blogs & Views Birmingham Mail Columnists Jon Walker
Parliamentary spelling bee
MPs often like to brighten up their speeches with a joke or a play on words.
Labour's Doug Henderson highlighted pressures on British business in today's global economy when he told MPs: "It is not a case of Bradford competing with Birmingham or Bordeaux; it must compete with every town in the world that begins with 'B'."
Keen to get into the spirit of things, Robert Flello (Lab Stoke South) piped up with a suggestion: "Beijing!"
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) added another: "Bombay!"
Mr Henderson agreed that Beijing was a good one - but added: "Bombay... well that has changed to Mumbai."
Indeed, the Indian city formally changed its name in 1995. That'll teach Mr Marris to join in the fun.
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