Weighing In

High Wycombe, an English town outside London, continues to practice a medieval custom of weighing its elected officials. Each May, the Mayor and other elected officials are seated on brass scales in the middle of the town square. For those who have gained from the previous year the macebearer shouts "and some more" and the crowd shouts and throws rotten fruit. For those who lost weight he shouts "and no more" and the crowd cheers. A widening of the waistline was jeered as a sign that an official had grown fat at the taxpayer's expense. It occurs that we have seen some chubby political candidates this year and instead of shooting off a gun on Fifth Avenue perhaps we should set up scales in Times Square. See the fruit vendor beforehand.
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/world/what-in-the-world/high-wycombe-england-annual-weigh-in.html?ref=world