Angel of the South

[EMDEE]

Here is a few wee extracts from one of her famous speeches.

Ah belang tae Glesga - dear auld Glesga toon.

That wisnae her, that was Will Fyffe!

[A Horse called Juan Face]

Fairly certain Emiliano Zapata said that quote, but possibly not originally.

Close but no cigar .The original quote was by the Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti and picked up by both Zapata and Dolores Ibarruri .

Well he still said it so can I at least get a puff?

[blueboyno1]

Close but no cigar .The original quote was by the Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti and picked up by both Zapata and Dolores Ibarruri .[/quote]

Well he still said it so can I at least get a puff?[/quote]


Have a good puff Horse ,just remember it is a cuban cigar

[EMDEE]

From yesterday's Oban Times:

http://www.obantimes.co.uk/news/fullsto ... _Hill.html

How about that?

[ionnsaigh]

Aye great minds think alike

[ionnsaigh]

Seriously though it has potential economic advantages to Oban - and the surrounding area. Like our Squinty Bridge you learn to live with it. ( like it or lump it ). I really think it's a great idea, then again I would I suppose. The idea of a fisherman casting a net has many positive associations. I would have liked to have seen a Fishing trawler sitting on the hill - kept shipshape with figures of sea workers on deck. A the romance of it all

[ionnsaigh]

BBC NEWS
Russia's massive leaning statue
By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Moscow

One of Russia's most important war memorials, a huge statue towering over the southern city of Volgograd, is in danger of collapsing, an official says.

The Motherland statue is leaning at such a precarious angle that many people are scared of going near it.

Rising water levels are causing the foundations of the memorial to subside.

The news comes at an embarrassing time, as Russia prepares for Victory Day on Saturday, marking the Soviet Union's defeat of the Nazis in World War II.

Funds needed

When it was completed in the late 1960s, the Motherland statue was the largest in the world.

Made of concrete, it stands 85 metres (300 ft) high and weighs around 8,000 tons.

It commemorates the Battle of Stalingrad, when the Soviet army eventually managed to defeat the invading German forces in what is widely seen as a turning point in World War II.

The epic battle, which began in the summer of 1942 and caused almost two million casualties, has become a defining moment in Russian history and it remains a source of intense pride for the country.

But now the huge statue has come perilously close to toppling over.

It is not fixed to its foundations - instead it is held in place by its own weight. And the rising water table is causing the foundations to subside.

An official, who did not wish to give her name, told us the statue was already listing by around 20 cm (8 inches). If it tilts over just a few centimetres more, it will probably collapse.

According to the official, the problem is getting worse more quickly than they had thought and they need more than $7m (£5m) to fix it.

But she had little hope they would be able to raise the money given the current economic crisis.

The local security services have been quoted as saying that money provided by the government in the past to restore the statue to its rightful position was stolen.
Story from BBC NEWS:

[ionnsaigh]

I would have liked to have seen a Fishing trawler sitting on the hill - kept shipshape with figures of sea workers on deck. A the romance of it all

The trawler could act as a maritime school - have a restaurant bar - with stage. All aboard the good ship Oban.

[ionnsaigh]

Forward Statue

Admittedly I was immediately attracted to the all to apparent communist style. The polyester resin cast statue - was the work of Raymond Mason. It represents the march of Birmingham from the past Industrial Revolution to the future. It was damaged by fire on the 17th April 1903. It was deemed to be irreparable and removed. Perhaps this is an argument for stone or ice.
However back to the polyester - wither you agree or not - both the image and it's theme - where very very powerful generating much debate - if art doesn't stir controversy - then it may as well sell on the front of greeting cards - with little or limited meaning - mediocrity. So in that respect it stirred the pot.


Figures included Joseph Chamberlain with his monocle and Josiah Mason, founder of the University, with an armful of books. The Lady of the Arts, from the city's coat of arms, blew a kiss to the past,
The formula on the shoulder of the leading figure referred to DNA, representing the continuing advance of scientific discovery. The Birmingham-educated scientist, Maurice Wilkins, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for work on DNA.

On closer inspection - the back of the queue figures depicted child labour. I don't know the names of these child workers only those of the great and the good. Which is a fair enough representation of times gone by - however it appears to clash with the futuristic ethos of the work. A communist statue would have as it's head - those unnamed children of the working class - transformed by scientific discovery - to the equal classless status of children.