This report:  http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Warplane-may-be-built-near.5989881.jp on a proposal to spend £2.5million on what is in effect a giant taxpayer funded advertisement for an arms manufacturer is going to set local politics alight.

An enormous replica warplane is to be erected near Junction 31A of the M6 motorway.

According to the Lancashire Evening Post:


The huge statue – featuring a military aircraft suspended on a plinth – is being lined up as a fitting celebration of Preston's proud aviation industry

It seems likely that the sculpture will be funded by a combination of public money, from organisations like the NWDA, and possibly by BAe itself.

Planes like this were used to intimidate the people of East Timor. Do we want a replica warplane to symbolise our city?

The LEP quotes our Tory Council leader as saying

"If you are coming down the motorway from London or Blackpool and saw that when you got to Red Scar, you would think, 'What a wonderful thing, like the Angel of the North'."

Already there are over 60 comments on the story, with about 90% outraged that our leaders should be so stupid as to imagine that public money should be spent on what has already been dubbed 'The Angel Of Death Of The North'.

The Angel of the North is a proud symbol of humanity and hope. What our leaders are proposing would be a chilling symbol of imperialism and slaughter from the skys.

Those who remember the struggle of the people of East Timor will remember how Hawk Fighter aircraft built at BAe were used by the Indonesian government to (unsuccessfully) intimidate the people of that region.

The sculpture, if built, will also serve as a constant reminder of one of our Labour government's most shameful episodes, the unlawful decision by ministers and the Serious Fraud Office not to investigate the allegations of up to $6bn worth of corruption surrounding the Al Yamamah deal between Saudi Arabia and BAe.

The people of Lancashire are proud of their hard work, their skill as engineers and technicians. We should not however see this commemorated with a representation of a weapon of mass destruction as a symbol for what our area is all about. There are many far better ways to spend £2.5million in areas of immense social deprivation, 5 minutes drive from where this sculpture would be located.

This is all about power, the state and big business brandishing their weapons, asserting their authority over working class people, here and all around the world.

Preston people will fight tooth and nail to make sure this, like so many other recent madcap schemes, never happens.