MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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The tradition of placing the traffic cone on the statue dates back more than 30 years
Plans to raise the height of an iconic statue in Glasgow - in a bid to stop revellers placing traffic cones on it - are 'likely to be withdrawn'.
Glasgow City Council wanted to raise the plinth as part of a £65,000 project to refurbish the Duke of Wellington monument in the centre of the city.
However, after a massive social media campaign, a council spokesman said the plan was likely to be dropped.
He said an announcement would be made on Tuesday.
The council had said that raising the height would end a practice which projected a "depressing image" of Glasgow and would save the £10,000 cost of removing the cone 100 times a year.
The scheme would have seen a new granite-clad concrete base of 86cm (34in) added to the memorial to raise its overall height.
However, the council has reconsidered its decision "in its current form" after an online petition called "Save Wellington's Cone", which gathered thousands of signatories in just a few hours, and a Facebook campaign which had planned a rally in support of the cone.
The petition stated: "The cone on Wellington's head is an iconic part of Glasgow's heritage, and means far more to the people of Glasgow and to visitors than Wellington himself ever has.
"Raising the statue will, in any case, only result in people injuring themselves attempting to put the cone on anyway: does anyone really think that a raised plinth will deter drunk Glaswegians?"
The matter was discussed widely on social networking sites.
Writer and comedian Greg Hemphill wrote on his Twitter feed: "Raising the statue is a very sound idea cause if there's one thing every Glaswegian loves it's being told what they can and cannot do."
Adapting a former catchphrase from his Chewin' The Fat show, he added: "Cony No Dae That."
The Wellington statue was sculpted by Italian artist Carlo Marochetti and erected in 1844.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24907190 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24907190[/url]
Democracy at it's finest.. Which begs the question, could Facebook herald the dawn of a new and pure democratic system?
A revolution of consciousness that could knock the daft old toff ways back into the Victorian era they belong in perhaps?
And what better symbolism?
I going to put in a bid for the "cone removal" contract.
£10k/year for 5 minutes work once every 4 days or so.
Sounds good to me !!
£10,000 to remove the cones? How much do long sticks cost in Glasgow?
Aye but you need a long stick and another three guys to watch.
Then an hour or so sitting in the van reading the paper. That doesn't come cheap!
Elfinsafety, innit? They have to use a man in a bucket:
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There seems to be a "raising statues" trend at the moment!
http://www.barnsley-chronicle.co.uk/news/article/7192/dickie-on-a-high-after-statue-is-raised
There is a statue of Josiah Wedgwood outside the station in Stoke:
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Which is just round the corner and in the middle of the student zone. It always raises a smile on my face when I pass and see an empty lager can in his right hand.
(before someone says so, this is a copy of the statue which is outside the museum in Barlaston)
Hurray! It's the cone that makes the thing iconic.
The statue in our town centre used to get up and walk about at Hallowe'en, leaving a trail of paint footsteps behind and ending up with a potty on his head.
Hurray! It's the cone that makes the thing [s]i[/s] conic.
How?
The statue is outside the gallery of modern art .Without the cone it's another statue of another historic figure ....that has little or no meaning to most people who pass by. The cone makes it an ironic advert for the gallery. Also it is fun which is surely one of many things art should be.
The cone makes it an ironic advert for the gallery
I think it's for lazy students/gadgies with a lack of imagination.
Sticking one on a weather vane on the other hand 😉
The cone makes it an ironic advert for the gallery
Well that is stretching the point at bit. There was a cone on the head of that statue when the building housed Stirling's Library before it was the gallery of modern art.
Good on the Weegies, and down with the cone removing overlords! Chelmsford has a similar tradition of dressing up Judge Tindal:
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Take your point gonefishin I thought the gallery opened in the 80s but it wasn't till 96.
It's not often that we agree yunki, but in this case spot on! How perfectly this illustrates the power of the forthcoming Revolution of Consciousness and a new model of democracy that you aspire to.
So Glasgow, how do you want to be defined? As Scotland's largest city? As a Centre of History, Commerce, Culture, Sport? The home of the fourth oldest Uni in the English speaking world?
Nae pal, @@@@ that. We prefer to be known as a place where a cone on the head of a statue represents an iconic part of our heritage.
So the RoC is little more than a joke and a bit of fun, probably best enjoyed after abusing some substance or a few too many cans of Tennents. At least in this case there is no sub plot of selling tickets to the Hammersmith Apollo.
But 65k? I wonder who the head of finance at the city council is.
So Glasgow, how do you want to be defined? As Scotland's largest city? As a Centre of History, Commerce, Culture, Sport? The home of the fourth oldest Uni in the English speaking world?Nae pal, @@@@ that. We prefer to be known as a place where a cone on the head of a statue represents an iconic part of our heritage.
Why can't we have both? Glasgow has always had a certain "F*** You" attitude to authority figures, and it's not like Wellington had any close ties to the city - there are statues of him all over the place.
Edinburgh has a statue of Wellington too - you'd never see theirs with a cone on his head.
They're missing the obvious here, they should be giving it a permanent granite cone.
I sure here are plenty of student pranks in E'burgh too - correct NW? And as long as no damage in incurred, there is a childish side in me that finds them v amusing. Especially with statues.
But would I want my heritage to be defined as such??.
So proud Scotland as you approach the opportunity to claim independence, elevate your consciousness and be proud to define your heritage with reference to [s]Robert the Bruce, Burns, Faraday, Baird, Smith, Scott, Hoy, Ferguson [/s] a traffic cone!!! 😉
Sound more like a revolution of unconsciousness!
But would I want my heritage to be defined as such??.
It's not defining your heritage - Wellington wasn't Scottish, I don't think he even visited the city. The Victorians bought these statues in a job lot and plonked them in every city of the Empire.
teamhurtmore - MemberBut would I want my heritage to be defined as such??.
Over-egging the pudding there don't you think? A cone on a statue hardly "defines their heritage". But there's room for it to be a tiny part of it.
After all, that's what heritage is- something you inherit from the past. It doesn't all have to be dead soldiers on horses.
Sorry, let me be more precise....an ICONIC PART of your proud heritage. There are not my words, there are the words of the new democratic elite who have elevated themselves to a new level of consciousness (see link above).
Of course it's over-egging the point. That IS the point? 😉 Its all a joke and should be treated as such.
Ah, the glasgow defence 🙂
Quite!
(Really just a little in joke between yunki and me! Coffee break over sadly, back to work)
Why not just leave it? Surely it will just fall off eventually - or not.