Dear All
It is an outrage!
Apparently some bright spark has decided
that a cone on top of the Duke of Wellington on horseback in Royal Exchange
Square is unacceptable.
As long as I can remember Glaswegians have
climbed the statute to stick a cone there as a symbol to authority.
What does the symbol represent?
Get it right up ye!
In fact the Duke of Wellington without his
cone is such an unusual sight to be worthy of comment.
No matter what the height, no matter what
the weather, trusty and stoic Glaswegians potter up like mountaineers up
Everest to reach the summit.
God bless them.
The Duke of Wellington is an A-Listed
monument in Glasgow city centre but it is an A-Listed monument in Glasgow city centre with
a cone.
When the news broke that Glasgow City
Council wanted to draw up plans to stop the masses fulfilling their democracy
right there was an immediate public outcry.
Some people in Glasgow City Council wrongly
believe that the practice projects a "depressing" image of the city,
far from, it shows how happy go lucky Glaswegians are.
Nothing depressing about that is there?
An online petition to save the cone on the
Duke of Wellington has attracted 4000 signatures so far, with organisers Donna
Yates and Gavin Doig say it is a part of the city's heritage.
Anyway, someone leaked the plans and all
hell broke loose, Labour leader Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson is said to be livid
after his scheme was ‘grassed up’ to the masses.
One source said:
"Yes, we all agree that the tradition
of the cone on the duke's head is probably one to move on from but its not a
'depressing sight', as the application made out. It was probably felt this
document was for internal consumption and wouldn't become public, but it has. Gordon
[Matheson, the council leader] is as livid about this as I've ever seen him. He
appreciates there's a lot of affection for this and the tone and language of
the application hasn't helped. The issue now is how to move on from this and
the first step will be to withdraw the application."
Italian artist Baron Carlo Marochetti would
be very proud that his work is thought of so highly by so many.
Gary Nesbit is a leading expert on
Glasgow's public statues; he says that damage is being done to the duke by
decades of being climbed upon. Surely the proper thing is to leave the cone
alone then.
If man can get up Everest, then the Duke of
Wellington’s statue is well easy, just a punt up and Bob’s your uncle.
No compromise on the Wellington cone, finally the cone must be red and white, some charlatans in the past have used other types but only a red and white is appropriate.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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