Source, in full
Although Ken Livingstone has used this phrase on many occasions (including at the Greater London Authority 'People's Question Time' on 24 October 2000: see Hugh Muir, "Ken vows no surrender in tube funding battle", Evening Standard, October 25, 2000, p. 6), the phrase is not original. The screenplay for Stardust Memories, a 1980 film written and directed by Woody Allen, includes the following: Sandy Bates: What was that? What was that? / Dorrie: Hey, that's so pretty. A pigeon! / Sandy Bates: Geez … no, it's not pretty at all. They're... they're... they're rats with wings.