TRAFALGAR TREE DISASTER
LONDONERS WERE APPALLED THIS MORNING TO DISCOVER THAT INSTEAD OF THEIR USUAL GIFT OF A GIANT CHRISTMAS TREE, THE PEOPLE OF NORWAY HAD GIVEN BRITAIN’S CAPITAL CITY A SELECTION BOX.
The Scandinavian nation has, for the past 74 years, supplied a mighty 20 metre fir tree to stand in Trafalgar Square, as a gesture of thanks for the UK’s assistance during World War II.
However, this year the evergreen giant has been replaced by a £2.99 Cadbury’s chocolate selection box.
“We’re trying to make the best of it,” said London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan. “But we’re all really, really disappointed.”
“When the police told me a selection box had appeared in place of the usual tree, I thought they meant a giant one, which would have been something,” he said. “But it’s just a normal-sized selection box.”
And talking to reporters, Khan found it hard to conceal his disappointment. “It’s not even the good selection box, the one with Dairy Milk and Dairy Milk Caramel. And a Picnic,” he said. “It’s the one down from that, with stuff like a Fudge and a Chomp. It’s hard not to take it as an insult, to be honest.”
Speaking from his embassy in Belgrave Square, Norwegian Ambassador to the UK Per Egil Silvaag, told repor ters that he was extremely sorry, but said that it had been a difficult and busy year.
“We meant to get round to it but things caught up with us and, before you know it, it’s Christmas Eve,” he said. “So I nipped to an all night garage in the New Kent Road and got a selection box.”
And in Westminster, the government was playing down the affair in an attempt to prevent a diplomatic incident from developing.
“Everyone loves chocolate, and it makes a nice surprise not to get another boring old tree from our friends in Norway like every year,” said the Prime Minister, carefully ruffling his hair.