I love the statue that has replaced the slave trader

It's just the number of deaths that went with it that is fairly hard to swallow.

lemongrove

Very true Grandad43 what has been done for workers by this government has been brilliant, although from the constant armchair carping from some on forums you would think that everyone had been left to starve!

Well said Lemongrove, for I am a pragmatist and a realist and will accept what I have for a lifetime believed in from whatever political quarter it may come from.

All those on the left of politics in Britain should be applauding what has taken place in Britain in recent months and not standing on tribal politics for the sake of standing on tribal politics.

I don't think the statue cost Bristol anything- Marc Quinn and his team installed it. If they had any sense they would have left it for a time. Why another statue of a man? Women are severely underrepresented in statues. Most of them are Queen Victoria.

We have a black mayor at the moment.

Am sure that I once read that Bristol had a black mayor .. twice voted in, who came from a slave background ( possibly late 18 early 19th century?) Possibly a statue of him would be a good thing.

Ah I see when your statements are questioned deflect by bringing in irrelevancies. There's a thread about Boris if you want to praise him. As for the statue if enough people ask for it it will be put back.

Oh I had completely missed that Trisher I didnt realise it was that artist. I loved the statue of Alison Lapper.

The statue was taken down at about 5am this morn. The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, rightly says that there needs to be a discussion amongst Bristol people as to whose statue should go on that plinth. There have been several nominations and 10,000 signatures gathered for one activist, Paul Stephenson, a Bristol Civil Rights Campaigner who was instrumental in paving the way for the first Race Relations Act in 1965...... but he is in his 80s and his family say he doesn't want a statue.

It needs to be of someone who has worked hard for the city, not a statue of a random protester whose name means nothing. Or ..... as mentioned by Grandad1943 use any money to help alleviate poverty in the city amongst all the races living there, and just put a small plaque on the plinth instead.

Very true Grandad43 what has been done for workers by this government has been brilliant, although from the constant armchair carping from some on forums you would think that everyone had been left to starve!

Yes change is very frightening for people.

Marc Quinn doesn't need the publicity he is an established artist whose statue of Alison Lapper was in Trafalger Square.They haven't binned it by the way-they would be stupid to do so. It's worth a fortune.

lemongrove

Perhaps Grandad is a Labour member and voter who isn’t actually far left MaizieD ( there are plenty of them about!)

We have at present the most far left government that Britains has possessed since the labour of administration of 1945.

What other government has ever paid the wages and salaries of almost ten million workers for four months to maintain their employment.

As a left wing supporter I am over the moon and would have never believed I would witness anything like the above in my lifetime.

And from a Tory Government.
Well Done Boris, I say.

I would say grandad was fairly representative of the left of the labour party.

I think that Grandad's post was fairly representative of many people, from across all the parties tbf.

Thanks Galaxy I just thought of the suffragettes as well. They were told everything was fine as well. One Winston Churchill once said women didn't need the vote because "they are well represented by their fathers, husbands and brothers." Just as I suppose some think white people adequately represent black people.

Galaxy

I would say grandad was fairly representative of the left of the labour party.

Yes, the left....not the far left.

You don’t have to be a part of any particular political affiliation, to see that the sculptor wanted his name talked about.He was using the BLM issue just as much as it was using him.

I would say grandad was fairly representative of the left of the labour party.

And the suffragettes. Most people utterly opposed what they were doing.

Perhaps Grandad is a Labour member and voter who isn’t actually far left MaizieD ( there are plenty of them about!)

Grandad1943 where do you imagine the legislation that you now regard as adequate came from? Because it wasn't from the people in power who have always assumed that things were fine and nothing needed to change. It came from grassroots movements. Movements like BLM. If you want a list try the Chartists, Socialists and even the Trade Unions you now claim to believe in who were once regarded as subversives. Just because you feel empowered by the present legislation doesn't mean it serves everyone or treats them all equally.

Sometimes, Grandad, I can't help feeling that you're a tory in disguise...

For the hundredth time, change rarely comes from legislation alone. Your faith in the law is touching but for many of us it is not the case. Perhaps if you had been a woman during the time when rape within marriage was legal you might not view legislation in such a hopeful way.

Anniebach

But the statue doesn’t represent equality, it represents power ,

Power for whom. An unelected very hard left grouping that refuses to use Britains already adequate legislation to address their percived greivences?

I think it`s been taken down.

This was a beautiful statue and a real work of art, besides being a statue of a black woman both of which are people under-represented by statues in the UK.
As for Bristol council they made a big mistake just taking it down. Had they left it, with perhaps a date that it would be removed, they would have seen increased numbers of people visiting to take photos of it and local businesses might have benefitted.