Sir: I would much rather have a statue of Oscar
Wilde than the one we have of Dou- glas Haig, a man who could not only coun- tenance the shooting of hundreds of shell- shocked adolescents but also exemplified the odious social attitudes which encour- aged the persecution of the playwright. I feel like spitting every time I pass him in Whitehall — but I would not have it removed, not least because 'Butcher' Haig is immortalised by an extraordinarily fine equestrian monument by Alfred Hardiman.
What needs to be asked, therefore, and what — whether through political correct- ness or the desire to strike an attitude has been ignored in the silly controversy over the Wilde statue is simply this: will Maggi Hambling's monument be any good, or is it likely to be yet another risible embarrassment of ineptitude like all the other public statues raised in London in recent decades?
Gavin Stamp
1 Moray Place, Strathbungo, Glasgow
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