PETA Shop Boys

According to BBC News…

Pop group Pet Shop Boys have revealed they have turned down a request by animal rights group Peta to rename themselves the Rescue Shelter Boys.

“Peta Europe has written to Pet Shop Boys with a request they are unable to agree to,” reads a post on the band’s official website. But the band admits the request “raises an issue worth thinking about”.

Peta’s letter requests the name change due to the cruelty which they allege takes place in the pet trade. If the band were to agree to the name change, it continues, it would “encourage your millions of fans to consider giving a home to an abandoned or unwanted animal from an animal shelter”.

In her letter, Peta’s special projects manager Yvonne Taylor admits that her request “may at first seem bizarre”.

You don’t say.

But coming from the group that thinks consuming milk is “cruel and unhealthy” and has protested the treatment of cows in India, as well as opposing Guide Dogs for the Blind, not entirely unexpected.

Bjorn to be wild

An Abba tribute band says it has performed a private concert for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Bjorn Again says it was paid £20,000 to play the gig 200 miles (320km) north of Moscow on 22 January.

Bjorn Again’s manager Rod Stephen and other band members said Mr Putin danced to Abba hits and shouted “Bravo!”

The PM’s spokesman denied the claim. Mr Putin – a former KGB spy who has a black belt in judo – is known in Russia and the West for his macho image.

- BBC News