NORWAY’S CHRISTMAS TREE PRESENT UNDERWHELMS SOME IN BRITAIN

LONDON: Norway’s annual Christmas tree gift to London provoked unseasonably abrupt responses on Thursday, including demands that the 24-metre Norwegian spruce be replaced, after it appeared to be less than symmetrical with some broken branches.

Every year, a tree is felled outside Oslo and sent to London’s Trafalgar Square as an offering of thanks from Norwegians for Britain’s support during World War Two.

The Lord Mayor of Westminster Andrew Smith and Mayor of Oslo Marianne Borgen helped fell the 80-year-old Norwegian spruce along with schoolchildren on Nov. 16. It was transported by Norwegian authorities.

But now photographs show the tree has some broken branches. One side appears to have less growth than the other, though it was unclear when the damage was done.

The tree drew mirth on Twitter with some commenting that it was “threadbare”, “half dead”, or perhaps ill with COVID. Others said it was a symbol of modern British decline or speculated it might be an elaborate joke on Norway’s part.