Spinning Gandhi.
We had a naked man, before a blue cock rose to the occasion, then a pregnant woman…now we honour the barely dressed architect of the decline of the Lancashire cotton industry and the end of the Empire.
We used to honour the saviours of our nation. As children, we knew the urban myth/code of the statue – did the horse have all four feet on the ground or not? We were at least sure that all those honoured had done something of value for our country.
What exactly does the latest statue to grace London mean? That Lakshmi Mittal, Rahul Bajaj, Naryana Murthy and a host of fellow Indian businessmen with strong economic ties to England can afford a million quid to turn Gandi from a figure with feet of clay into a bronze statue that will withstand the London weather?
Perhaps other countries with wealthy expatriates will start demanding they be allowed to put up statues in London? Would the Russians appreciate honouring the Bolsheviks who murdered Prince Phillip’s cousins? Outside Buckingham Palace? Why not? Lots of Russians in London, and they’re not short of money.
Perhaps exiled Libyans could work up the interest to erect a statue of Gaddafi, with the Blair Faith Foundation coordinating donations. I don’t see why not, we’ve obviously abandoned the tradition of choosing as a nation who we so honour.
Curiously, they are not so fond of Gandhi in India – where he was seen as ‘too pro-Muslim’. The MP Sakshi Maharaj is something of a thorn in the side of the present Indian government, led by Narendra Modi’s BJP party – a party committed to establishing India as a Hindu nation.
In recent months, Maharaj has created uproar by describing Mahatma Gandhi’s Hindu nationalist assassin as a patriot, saying Hindu women should give birth to four children to ensure the religion survives and by calling for Hindus who convert to Islam and Christianity to be given the death penalty.
Whose idea was it to position this statue right opposite that of Churchill?
“It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of the king-emperor.”
– Winston Churchill, 1930
Prime Minister David Cameron said “This statue is a magnificent tribute to one of the most towering figures in the history of world politics”.
Needless to say, Cameron was talking about the statue of Gandhi – not Churchill.
Your thoughts? Suggestions for the next statue?
- Mudplugger
March 15, 2015 at 10:14 am -
Bet it won’t be Jeremy Clarkson.
- The Blocked Dwarf
March 15, 2015 at 11:07 am -
“Bet it won’t be Jeremy Clarkson.”
No probably not, but Gandhi did enjoy sleeping next to very young, naked girls, a la his spiritual Grandson Micheal Jackson and in a similar totally platonic way *snork*, so there may be hope for Jimmy Savile yet….time healing all allegations by dint of future historians perhaps being able to publish the truth and have it believed. Hell it worked for Old Dicky one-one-one, how many towns are squabbling about who should get his remains?
- Moor Larkin
March 15, 2015 at 11:26 am -
Very much the make love not war genre. Better to sleep next to young girls than napalm them if you ask me. His gift to the world was to example how a non-violent revolution could be achieved – something the Ukrainains also managed to do at the time of their Orange Revolution, but of course since then the smell of napalm is once again in the morning air.
- Moor Larkin
- The Blocked Dwarf
- acuriousyellow
March 15, 2015 at 10:24 am -
Absolutely correct Anna, as was Winston at the time, and how about naming the current crop of “seditious middle temple lawyers” around at this present time.
hope you’re feeling well .
One day at a time. cheers.- BritInMontreal
March 15, 2015 at 2:17 pm -
He only succeeded because he took on the Brits – if he’d tried it on with the Japs (assuming they invaded India in WWII), he’d be a forgotten man in a mass grave somewhere.
- BritInMontreal
- Tedioustantrums
March 15, 2015 at 10:59 am -
Enoch Powell. He saw it right. Enough said.
- The Blocked Dwarf
March 15, 2015 at 11:16 am -
Serious nomination: Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey
I reckon Big Pharma should be made to pay for a statue of her in every Capital in the world.
and ASH should be made to pay for one of John Rolfe , who despite being a Norfolk man, provided them- the fake Charities and fASHistos of the Tobacco Contol Industry- with seats on the Gravy Train for the rest of their miserable, lemon sucking, tofu chewing, vegan lives.
- Moor Larkin
March 15, 2015 at 11:17 am -
Haile Selassie is surely well overdue. He’s not just an old hero but a Deity to boot!
The Ethiopians were the first victims of the filthy dogma of the Fascists as well.
Seems like a Slam Dunk to me.
Abyssinia.- The Blocked Dwarf
March 15, 2015 at 11:25 am
- The Blocked Dwarf
- GildasTheMonk
March 15, 2015 at 11:25 am -
Abu Hamza, for his services to peace, multiculturalism, community cohesion, religious understanding, diversity and the legal profession. Clearly one of the UK’s most invaluable guests in recent times.
- Major Bonkers
March 15, 2015 at 3:21 pm -
We could have a frieze around the base of the statue with such luminaries as Jihadi John, the stupid girls who have wandered off to Syria, Michaels Adebolajo and Adebowale, etc., etc.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:BritishTerrorism
- GildasTheMonk
March 15, 2015 at 4:10 pm -
Excellent point! And also a motif of benefits cheques being presented by a supine civil servant
- The Blocked Dwarf
March 15, 2015 at 4:15 pm -
“motif of benefits cheques”
Ok it would be a nice historical detail but the DWP stopped issuing the good old ‘giro’ cheque, finally, about 2 years back. It’s all BACS, BICS, Bits and bytes these days.
Mainly because it was such an effort to get off the couch, put down the doritos, step away from Jeremy Kyle, put some jogging trousers on over the boxers and then have to walk up to the Post Office E V E R Y Monday morning! Think the EU ruled it was ‘forced labour’.
- The Blocked Dwarf
- GildasTheMonk
- Major Bonkers
- Engineer
March 15, 2015 at 11:30 am -
How about a anonymous figure with long hair, a beard, sandals and a badly-fitting Fair Isle sweater, holding a pot of yoghurt, a packet of lentils and a copy of the Grauniad? Or even George Monbiot….
- AdrianS
March 15, 2015 at 11:54 am -
george monbiot would have to be dead to get an award, what a lovely thought , no more of his green claptrap .
- AdrianS
- The Blocked Dwarf
March 15, 2015 at 11:32 am -
There was a man who was popular and handsome as Richard Burton (‘Cos I seen him on the box once with his black shirt on)
though I cannot claim to be any great authority….as far as I’m concerned the sun shone out of his oratory…just can’t remember his name, was it Michael Caine?…. but whoever he was he’d probably make a good statue…
- Jim McLean
March 15, 2015 at 11:51 am -
Simon Cowell.
- Moor Larkin
March 15, 2015 at 11:55 am -
He’s plenty bronzed already…
- Moor Larkin
- AdrianS
March 15, 2015 at 11:58 am -
When Princess Diana died , Elton John did Candles in the Wind
He was going to do Sandals in the Bin when Mother Teresa pegged it.How about a statue of James Hunt the racing driver- a true Englishman
- Engineer
March 15, 2015 at 12:56 pm -
What did Gandhi actually do? He didn’t achieve Indian independence; that happened because Britain just couldn’t afford to carry on administering India after WW2, and pulled out. Arguably, they pulled out too quickly. Partition, in particular, could have been better managed if more time had been allowed for it.
It’s perhaps the largest example of the Politics of Coitus Interruptus in world affairs.
- hugh fowler
March 15, 2015 at 1:51 pm -
Am I alone in finding it rather ironic given the current paedo frenzy that the British establishment has chosen this moment to publically honour a man who liked to sleep between naked young girls as part of his religious ‘exercises’ and whose predelictions would have been more than enough to have got him some prime time with operation Yewtree ?
There is something faintly deranged about a society that has decided to spend millions investigating whether the late Jimmy Savile was the greatest paedo in history and who must suffer damnatio memoriae even though never convicted of any crime in his lifetime yet chooses to erect a statue in Parliament square with the PM present of Gandhi, a man who is alleged to have been up to much the same sort of thing as a citizen of the Raj if the accounts his grand niece and others are to be believed.
http://www.firstpost.com/living/the-other-side-of-the-naked-fakir-remembering-gandhijis-grand-niece-1149535.html
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ghandi-slept-grandniece-historian-tells-uk-government-1460499No wonder satire is dead
- philip greengrass
March 15, 2015 at 1:52 pm -
there is already a statue of george washington in trafalgar square in front of the national gallery.a present from the state of virginia
- hugh fowler
March 15, 2015 at 2:30 pm -
On the subject of the American Revolution there is something deeply sad about Britain that it chooses to grant this honour to Gandhi but not to someone such as Tom Paine who had arguably far greater historical significance, was actually born in Britain and spent a good part of his life in this country
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8089115.stm
Of course, Tom Paine’s writings were a genuine threat to the British establishment of his own day and his ideas remain a potent menace to the current bunch of crooks and clowns who rule us now. By contrast Gandhi ‘s political influence was already marginalised by the time of his assassination. As a result he could safely be beatified after his death since neither Indians nor the British have ever had not the faintest intention of implementing any of the policies for which he had campaigned.
- hugh fowler
- Major Bonkers
March 15, 2015 at 3:30 pm -
I would like to suggest a cast of one of Mr. Miliband’s kitchens, to be manufactured by Rachel Whiteread.
A propos of Ed ‘Two kitchens’ Miliband, Arthur ‘Two sheds’ Jackson… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLjS3gzHetA
- GildasTheMonk
March 15, 2015 at 4:12 pm -
How about the Milibands, eating a banana and a bacon sandwich as appropriate.
- GildasTheMonk
- Giles2008
March 15, 2015 at 4:47 pm -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jTebmUJgO8
They’ll build a statue of you
to commend the deeds you’ve done
Face your figure to the west
to gaze off in the sunThey’ll build a statue of you
of your heritage and fame
Pay you all their due respects
like…. “Here’s to what’s his name”They’ll build a statue of you
they’ll chisel down your nose
Plant some trees around you
they’ll wash you with a hoseThey’ll put you in the finest clothes
your worthiness complete
Now pigeons can shit in your ears
and dogs piss on your feetThe winter winds will whip your back
the hail will bite your hand
The April rain will strike your face
I hope you understandThey’ll build a statue of you
your countenance will shine
Fine ladies and fine gentlemen
will drink you up like wineI’ll bet you think that what you do
will make the angels sing
But baby I am telling you
it doesn’t mean a thingThe winter winds will whip your back
the hail will bite your hand
The April rain will strike your face
I hope you understandThey’ll build a statue of you
they’ll put it in the square
Immortality will be yours
too bad you won’t be thereThey’ll build a statue of you
“Folks, this man moved his mountain
And now he’s buried underground
beneath this lovely fountain” - Ed P
March 15, 2015 at 5:36 pm -
Dr Shipman for helping to reduce bed-blocking?
- Ljh
March 15, 2015 at 5:59 pm -
There are quite a few “seditious lawyers” about: Bliar and wife, BHO, Shrillary. We could do a sort of Burghers of Calais with them all in chains although personally I’d rather see them hanging, not in a gallery.
- The Blocked Dwarf
March 15, 2015 at 6:16 pm -
Personally I think the Lincoln’s Inn or Temple could be much improved with a discreet but tasteful statue of a raccoon….a raccoon RAMPANT of course. Perhaps cunningly designed that it’s eyes GLARE from all angles?
- The Blocked Dwarf
- Mudplugger
March 15, 2015 at 8:45 pm -
Or a statue of Tony Blair, with a speech-bubble aimed towards the one of Gandhi, quoting Emma Lazarus…
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” - JimS
March 15, 2015 at 10:25 pm -
The so-called ‘prophet’ Muhammad?
- Moor Larkin
March 15, 2015 at 10:28 pm -
He was a prophet. He always knew what round he’d knock ’em down in.
- Moor Larkin
- john malpas
March 15, 2015 at 11:56 pm -
You are missing out the only man to enter parliament with good intentions – Guy Fawkes.
Alternatively to represent the great british public – why not – Billy Bunter.- Moor Larkin
March 16, 2015 at 8:47 am -
Tom Watson is doing his best
- Engineer
March 16, 2015 at 9:01 am -
There is now probably a small team in the Foreign Office desperately scratching their collective heads to find a well-known and universally admired Chinese historical figure to immortalise in Bronze. Obviously Mao is out of the question…..or is he?
- Engineer
March 16, 2015 at 9:02 am -
Oops – that should have been a new comment. Unless anybody sees parallels between Watson and Mao….
- Moor Larkin
March 16, 2015 at 9:20 am -
There but for an accident of birth I imagine.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html
- Moor Larkin
- Engineer
- Engineer
- Moor Larkin
- Henry the Horse
March 16, 2015 at 12:47 pm -
Gandhi was a great product of Empire (even if he also helped to undo it), lived in South Africa and the recipient of a classic British legal education, the UK should be proud of him.
- Moor Larkin
March 16, 2015 at 1:07 pm -
The Salt March was his big break. It was Tea in America.
The spine of the Empire was broken over the taxation of commodities.
We never learn the lesson do we.
- Moor Larkin
- Henry Crun
March 16, 2015 at 3:27 pm -
How about a statue of Winning Mandela with a Dunlop 55/15 in one hand and a box of Swan Vestas in the other?
- Henry Crun
March 16, 2015 at 3:28 pm -
Winnie not Winning. ..
{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }