Can we, please, clean up Boudicca?

Just opposite the Palace of Westminster, next to the Thames, is one of the most extraordinary public Victorian/Edwardian statues in the whole of London. It is the Thorneycrofts' bronze statue of Boudicca/Boadicea (we don't know how to spell it, but then neither did she), rebel against the Roman occupation of Britain in 60 CE. The statue was finally put up in 1902, though it was begun in 1856, after a lot of discussion and monery raosing.

It is a brilliant piece of Victorian (sculptural) triumphalism and it's one of the relatively few public statues in London to commemorate a woman. As it happens, I am not a particular admirer of Boudicca myself, but that's another matter, and admiration of the person commemorated is not the be all and end all of viewing a sculpture.

I walked passed it today, as most of our great parliamentarians must do half the days of the year. Have they not wondered, I wondered, what a completely crap state she has been allowed to get into. She is a Grade Two listed building (not bad for a rebel) and to all appearances she is remarkably unloved.

The picture above is about the best you can do.

The plinth was originally rather impressive, granite faced. But some service supplier has been allowed to put up service boxes all along the one side.

But even worse, the whole front of the base is now obscured by a t-shirt, baseball cap etc souvenir stall, who have generously hung up a copy of the grand inscription, commemorating the queen, that their stall has concealed -- but it isnt the same as the real thing (now invisible).

And the whole place is filthy, unsurprisingly seeing that a crepe and pancake stall is just a few feet away.

 There is a brave but unsuccessful attempt to keep things a bit clean.

But overall the place is a complete tip (and Boudicca herself would have had, I imagine, some fairly stringent ways for dealing with this).

The truth is that, in general, I rather like public sculpture being used rather than admired. But this goes beyond that -- a major work of art treated like a sideshow and a rubbish dump.

If any Lord, Lady or Member happens to read this blog and has a moment to take your mind off the Queen's speech, could you do your bit to clean up Boudicca, in your own back yard?