As the Guardian reports today, the problematic location of a statue to Nelson Mandela remains a major policy issue for Mayor Ken Livingstone. With seemingly no sense of irony, our politically correct Mayor describes Westminster council's decision to oppose the location of the statue on the North terrace thus: "The decision by the committee shows how out of touch it is with public opinion ... I will now work hard to get the statue in place, by appealing to the secretary of state, John Prescott, immediately."
Apparently, the Mayor - who had a manifesto pledge to put the statue on the North Terrace feels more "in touch" on this issue to the extent that he wishes to force through his own "in touch" wishes against the local council (which just happens to be Conservative) by going over their heads to Government. With Jessie Jackson adding his own, unasked for opinion to the mix, anyone would have thought that there was a political agenda at work here - an Anti Nelson Mandela agenda from the right. Sadly, the conservative opposition is more prosaic - they simply want to put the statue outside of the South African embassy on the border of the square and leave the panoramic North Terrace unencumbered with any statues. They are joined by English heritage and a large number of art critics (many of whom consider the statue to have no artistic merit) and archietects in wishing to reject completely the idea of any statue on the North Terrace. The politically correct left are screaming that the placement of the statue outside South Africa house " diminishes his status as a world statesman ". Please. Perhaps we should just take Lord Nelson off of that column in the middle and put the statue up there and rename the square Mandela Square whilst we are at it....
perhaps they should agree as long as there's a statue of Maggie right alongside
Posted by: Mark T | July 02, 2004 at 02:43 PM