There are many statues of people once admired but now, for one reason or another, despised or at least found "problematical". A statue of Churchill in London, it has been reported, now has some added information about his being a racist. Unlikely that it will be subject to more lasting alteration, of whatever kind. True, he might have commended an RAF officer called Harris for planning to "pacify" tribesmen in the Middle East by dropping poison gas from biplanes, and continued by opining that these methods might be employed against "the industrial cities of the North" [of Britain, that is], but he was an appropriately aggressive PM in wartime. That statue will slouch for a long time.

For a long time, in Scotland, people have raised concerns about a colossal statue of the Duke of Sutherland perched high on a massive pedestal set atop a hill above Dornoch and facing towards the sea; the traditional saying is, "he turned his back on the people". The Strathnavar Evictions provide one of the most notorious examples of the attitudes of the British ruling classes towards the Common People, an episode in a long process of dispossession commonly known as The Highland Clearances ( though not limited to the Highlands of Scotland). Some of my own ancestors were "cleared" in the name of Progress and the pursuit of wealth. It is incontestable that many died as a consequence of such actions. Down through the years there have been numerous attempts to remove this offensive landmark, this perpetual reminder that some are born to own the land, and some are born to work it for as long as they're permitted to by their "betters". So far, the legal route has met with the kind of attention to be expected; so far, the more direct methods have not, yet, succeeded. Perhaps now there will be widespread support for this laudable effort to remove a statue of someone who ought, now, to be regarded and identified specifically as one more powerful person from the Past whose actions caused immense human suffering and grief. Perhaps; but I ain't holding my breath.