November 2, 2021

"The domination of the shared countryside for one man’s personal satisfaction is just not acceptable."

Said a group called Keep the Wannies Wild, quoted in "Viscount Devonport wins battle to erect ‘giant toothpick’ in Queen tribute" (London Times).

The objected-to sculpture is a 55-metre sliver of steel poked into a hilltop. It supposedly expresses the Viscount's idea of the Queen's "anchoring of the Commonwealth around shared values of tolerance, respect and understanding." It's the Viscount's land, and the project is privately funded.

What are "the Wannies"?

16 comments:

cubanbob said...

Well the wannies can always offer to purchase the land and gift it to the crown.

gilbar said...

Looks like, he should just call it a windmill... There are plenty of them there already

gahrie said...

What makes people think they have the right to dictate what a person does with or on their private property?

BarrySanders20 said...

One Man's Sliver of Steel is another man's Huge Prick.

tim in vermont said...

What's so funny about tolerance, respect, and understanding?

The song. we need right now.

campy said...

What if he letters TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN!!! along the length of the toothpick?

Maybe STOP CLIMATE CHANGE!!! on the other side for good measure?

SteveWe said...

Is it me, or does this guy sound like he's baby talking?

Mikey NTH said...

So he wants to put up a 21st century version of a folly? Sounds terribly British to me.

Bill Peschel said...

What's wrong with honoring Queen? I love Freddie Mercury!

Oh, wait...

Nick said...

It looks like the link is broken. Does someone have the correct link to the article in question?

Joe Smith said...

180 feet long...and 'poked' into a hillside...

Compensating for something?

: )

Bunkypotatohead said...

He shoulda just called it a George Floyd memorial, and they'd all applaud it.

typingtalker said...

The Keep the Wannies Wild facebook page says ...

Our Purpose:
Keep the Wannies Wild seeks to INFORM people about and OBJECT to the erection of Ascendant, a 180-foot high steel sculpture at Cold Law, known locally as Tit Hill, next to the C195 road crossing the Wannies, a beautiful, wild and remote area of Northumberland upland between the villages of Kirkwhelpington and Ridsdale.

I think naming anything "Tit Hill" is more obnoxious than the sculpture. I'm not crazy about the name Kirkwhelpington either ... although when translated from what ever language they speak there it may be OK.

mikee said...

The protesters know that a 180 foot tall sundial isn't that much of an imposition, compared to other huge sculptures such as the 597 foot tall Indian Statue of Unity or any of the giant Buddhas in China, Myanmar and Japan. Their main issue seems to be that "their" isolated and little visited rural area might become more popular and crowded. Well, they may have to live the famous words of Yogi Berra, “That place, it’s so crowded nobody goes there anymore.”

David Begley said...

I can barely understand these Scots.

Lurker21 said...

How did he become a viscount? Like the old song says:

Lloyd George knew my father,
Father knew Lloyd George,
Lloyd George knew my father,
Father knew Lloyd George


In this case, it was his grandfather. David Lloyd George handed out titles right and left to campaign contributors.