London's Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth stays empty - for now

Do the Queen's subjects have much choice in the decision?

The German Queen who conquered England in the 1500's to make the English people her subjects is a slap on the face of those who died fighting against tyranny.

A German Queen on a horse represents British Imperialism and Tryanny. English people need to speak up and rise up against tryanny that enslaved them.

The English Monarchy began the defrauding of the English people of their individual rights protecting Anglo-Saxon Common Law in a concerted effort by King Edward I in conspiracy with the Pope of Rome sometime around 1300 AD. The term "common law" and "English common law" was concocted as a fraud; and, is in fact, a system derived directly from Roman civil law - commonly called "dictator's law". As Roman Municipal Law, it points to Mercantile Law used against debtors, as 'municipal' means a debtor territory.

Considering that Anglo-Saxon Common Law period of England preceded the Norman Conquest of England by some 500 years, we have evidence of this fraud posted on the Canadian Federal Justice website:

"The common law, which developed in Great Britain after the Norman Conquest, was based on the decisions of judges in the royal courts. It is called judge-made law because it is a system of rules based on "precedent". Whenever a judge makes a decision that is to be legally enforced, this decision becomes a precedent: a rule that will guide judges in making subsequent decisions in similar cases. The common law is unique in the world because it cannot be found in any "code" or "legislation"; it exists only in past decisions. However, this also makes it flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances."

The primary feature of Roman Municipal Law, a variation of Roman Civil Law,[derived from Maritime Law], used by the deceitful English Monarchy, and it's so-called justice system, was/is the "notwithstanding clause". The Monarchy called this 'Equity'. This clause derives from the fact that Roman Law is based upon all commercial and political organizations, in fact all human institutions, being make-believe ships.

All 'ship's orders' - laws, rules and regulations concerning the ship, have within them the necessary right and duty of the captain to disregard any such rules or regulations when he deems it necessary for the 'good' of the ship. The complete "flexible and adaptable" feature of so-called English or British common law is nothing more than the common usage of the notwithstanding clause to insure that the Crown's pleasures, prerogatives and privileges come before the individual rights of the people.

the queen up there? no thanks! there are enough stuffy formal statues littered all over london without adding to the total. no, i think they should just continue with the policy of rotating artists every 6months to a year: adds interest to a (frankly) quite dull open space!

lowrevolution has contributed a photo to this story.

It's just the wonderful colour set against a typically grey UK sky. Whatever goes on the plinth ought to have the same jolly aspect!

chris 9 has contributed a photo to this story.

Hi Amy

I'm new to this site - just found it because one of my Flickr photos of the last sculpture was invited onto this story.

But a couple of points

- Is this site for news or for opinion? Your views on sculpture and of the Queen (contrary to your statement, UK opinion is very much split about royalty) are not really factual; they are your own views.

- The Guardian blog piece you quote so extensively didn't mention that for the meantime, the plinth is not to remain empty for any length of time. A series of temporary installations will continue to fill it on a periodic basis. The latest two have just been announced - http://www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth/index.jsp

Keep writing, please. But my tips would be more research and less opinion.

Clive

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Sorry to criticise, but as an editor by day it’s hard to switch off. Do you mean an unwelcome site, or an unwelcome sight – could be either in the context, but I imagine it’s the latter. Also, they presumably won’t put a statue at Trafalgar, which is in Spain, but in Trafalgar Square, London. Finally, and this is a minor point, “unwelcome” is usually one word rather than hyphenated.

All the best,

A random hack.

Strange - my comment above seems to have picked up a load of HTML junk. Apologies.

I thought the use of the fourth plinth for a regularly changing collection of sculputers was a great idea. However, so far only a couple have actually been any good, most were more appropriate for a roundabout in Milton Keynes.

This is one of the best so far. As for whether it should carry a statue of QEII, I'm not sure that would be appropriate either.

I definately would want to see a memorial to her. But how about something a little more special. Something like the Victoria memorial in front of Buck House.

Keep the fourth plinth for its current use. But please, lets have some inspiring art... not plastic skyscrapers or upside down plynths!

Phil Mercer has contributed a photo to this story.

Here's another source on this story... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1042560/Trafalgar-Squares-fourth-plinth-reserved-statue-Queen-riding.html. Please note though, that it is only speculation, probably just a kite being flown by someone at City Hall to guage public reaction.

Personally I can't see a problem with it (and by the way, Amy, I assume this was intended to be a comment piece, rather than news, because its very heavy on the former and light on the latter). I'm no arch-royalist, but Queen Elizabeth II has undoubtedly been one of our most significant monarchs, having guided Britain and the Royal Family through one of its most profound periods of change. It would be very, very odd not to honour her somehow - and anything other than a 'traditional' statue would most likely be seen as slightly offensive by the British public.

I also have to take issue with your statement that "no contemporary sculptor today is making equestrian statues" (incidentally, you don't need both 'contemporary' and 'today' in that sentence). My knowledge of the subject is very limited, but if you walk just a few hundred yards from Trafalgar Square to Haymarket, you'll see Rudy Weller's much loved 'Horses of Helios' (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgigreeny/2667312658/). Rudy was born in 1956 and is still very much active in the field. His horses look pretty good to me!

The plinth is certainly not empty: why does this article not mention the fact that there is a competition (I think, each year) to find a temporary sculpture to put on the plinth? the official site is here: www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth

Some background one why the plinth has remained empty could have been interested too...

"A Model For a Hotel" (f.k.a. "A Hotel For The Birds") by Thomas Schütte.

Photo taken at its unveiling on November 7th 2007, Trafalgar Square, London, UK.

phault has contributed a photo to this story.

The important fact that's been missed out of this story is that a new mayor of London was elected in May (Boris Johnson), replacing Ken Livingstone, and presumably this change of administration is why there's speculation that the series of contemporary artworks will end and be replaced by a 'traditional', permanent statue. 

In fact, Boris pledged before his election to replace the artworks with a statue of another dead white male, Sir Keith Park (see http://www.boriswatch.co.uk/2008/06/06/boris-decides-that-traditionalists-are-stuck-stuck-stuck/) but then reneged on this promise once elected.

Also I just wanted to reiterate the comment made by others that the fourth plinth is *not* empty at the moment; it's currently occupied by a colourful artwork entitled 'A model for a hotel' (it was called 'A hotel for the birds' but as former mayor Ken Livingstone was renowned for his dislike of the pigeons in Trafalgar Square the name was changed!)

It would be a shame to use the fourth plinth for a statue of the queen, the fourth plinth has rightly gained a reputation for showcasing modern sculpture and that should be retained. I've nothing against a statue of the queen but that could be elsewhere, maybe one of the Royal Parks.

Although it's outside the discussion on this article I do think once the queen is dead there should be a referendum on whether this is the time to abolish the monarchy.

wildberry has contributed a photo to this story.