UNISONActive is an unofficial blog produced by UNISON activists for UNISON activists. Bringing news, briefings and events from a progressive left perspective.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Putting the (welly) boot in

A little local difficulty has arisen in Glasgow over the quaint tradition of putting a traffic cone on Wellington's statue. First the council wanted to raise the plinth to stop it happening, then they 'paused' after a social media backlash. The ironic news prompted this comment from a local contact: "Glasgow Labour Party has been totally united in passing £200m in cuts, closing day centres, increasing charges for care and threatening 1,000 strikers with the sack. Now they publicly split over a traffic cone on the head of a 19th century Duke who 'invented' a boot to keep working class soldiers' feet dry whilst being slaughtered in the mud during imperialist wars. Unbelievable!"