Who would be worthy of their place on a plinth?

I NEVER thought a statue of someone long dead could ever cause a riot. Yet, in the crazy days of lockdown, anything is possible.

Strangely, as the statue of a dead slave trader was pulled down, the police did nothing to stop it. Those protesting seem to forget that the past is a foreign country where things were done differently.

They also forget that it was the British who fought to ban slavery and the British navy that rescued slaves being transported by other countries.

It is as if I am being made to feel ashamed of my heritage and the history of this country by a minority of left wing zealots intent on rewriting the past to suit their own bigoted agenda.

Even Captain James Cook is in the sights of this new cultural revolution. His crime is shooting indigenous islanders who were attacking him, an action that he wrote deeply grieved him.

Cook stands on the cliff at Whitby looking to the east, usually with a seagull perched on his head and a splattering of guano down his face. Now he is being guarded by locals to stop him being pulled down.

Like something from Russia, China or the novel 1984, a culture war is taking place to wipe our history slate clean. This is to satisfy the desires of a generation of snowflakes who cannot understand that no one takes a statue at face value and most people with any sense realise that half of the metal faces looking down on them have a dodgy past.

Personally, I have never paid much attention to statues and regard them as just being a part of our history with little significance for the present day. They melt into the background of life.

The only statue I have ever been impressed by is that of Eric Morecambe. It stands on the seafront of the town he is named after. The artist has managed to capture in metal all the joy Eric has brought to millions of people. It is a worthwhile piece of art.

In Britain, there are 828 officially recorded statues, out of which only 80 are of named females. Hardly surprising, as it wasn’t until recently that women have been recognised for their great achievements and given a seat at the table of life – and quite rightly so.

Surely, if we are going to continue this strange tradition of making gods from mortals, shouldn’t we have a bit more of a gender balance?

The trouble is, that finding subjects male or female to use as bronze role models is quite hard. Most humans, even the super saints, often have skeletons in their cupboards. Therefore, I ask the question, do people have to be squeaky clean before they can be honoured on a plinth?

If that is the case, then most of the statues of men and women would have to go. Nelson Mandela proudly stands in

Parliament Square. If you look into his past, he never renounced violence and favoured the armed struggle. That seems to be an inconvenient truth lots of people choose to forget.

Emily Davison was a suffragette who threw herself into the path of the King’s horse in the Derby. Throughout her life, she had used what some regarded as criminal methods to advance her cause. The people of Morpeth honour her with a statue.

Queen Victoria is honoured in most cities in the country. Whenever I see her statue, all

I am reminded of is her lack of sympathy during the Great Hunger in Ireland where over a million people died and another million left the country.

So, who can we find to become bronze memorials for future generations? Top of my list would have been JK Rowling. Sadly, for her, this once national treasure has been dropped like a hot potato by everyone she has given

ItisasifIam being made to feel ashamed of my heritage and the history of this country.

a leg up, her crime being that she tweeted a message that was upsetting to trans people.

It leaves us with very few options. Ellen MacArthur has everything that would be needed to be remembered with a statue. Brave, courageous, resourceful and strong. The sailor is an ideal role model for women and men.

The campaigner Humayra Abedin is another woman who is worthy of being remembered. Her work to highlight the problems of forced marriages should never be forgotten.

If we are going to put up statues to people, then why not the staff of the NHS who gave their lives fighting this dreadful plague that torments the world? Anujkumar Kuttikkottu Pavithran, Grant Maganga and Safaa Alam are but three of the many hundreds of frontline fighters worthy of remembering. These people died so others could live.

That would be far more fitting and would bring back a sense of unity that the political far left is seeking to destroy.