Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A "totally unacceptable" leek

Plaid Cymru are not happy with Wales being portrayed as a vegetable:
So, pity the poor Welsh on their discovering that the official emblem of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (itself a newly invented fabulous monster) undersells the principality.

In the emblem, a red rose stands for England, a purple thistle for Scotland, a blue flax flower for Northern Ireland.

All the Welsh get are three thin leaves as of a half-grown leek, grafted on to the rose stem. Hurt, they demand daffodils.

You can see the design here.

And I think I’d agree it looks pretty er...weedy, but still isn't this just the tiniest, little bit of an over-reaction?:
...Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru's leader in Westminster, told The Daily Telegraph that it should be scrapped. He said: "This is yet another example of Wales being forgotten about, and its totally unacceptable.

"I would urge them to review the emblem. It's startling that it has been approved in the first place.

"Surely Wales deserves to be treated equally? It's hardly fair that we're left with a few shabby leaves to represent our country when everyone else gets a colourful flower.

"I hope the emblem selected for the UK Supreme Court doesn't reflect how it will regard Wales. Allegedly, Wales is represented by a leek but you really have to struggle to find anything remotely resembling a leek in the emblem.

"And if there is a leek there, then it's the most pathetic looking leek I've ever seen. You certainly wouldn't find any like that being sold in Wales.

"If every other country is represented by a flower, rather than a vegetable, well why not include a daffodil for Wales?

Because they’re out of season perhaps?

3 comments:

Timothy Belmont said...

I'm afraid I wouldn't have appreciated the flax plant at all, until they mentioned it in their submission! Historically, of course, it has been the shamrock - or even harp - which has been along-side the rose and thistle. One of the State rooms at Buckingham palace containd wonderful plaster-work with such symbolic plants.

Tim

- said...

Yes, I rather think a shamrock would be more fitting for NI. Give the Welsh their daffodil too.

It may be petty, but I rather like the innocence of arguing over which flowers to put on a badge.

O'Neill said...

I'd have been happy enough with a shamrock (after all if it's good enough for my Northern Ireland football shirt, it's good enough for the UK Supreme Court). I'm just surprised that more objections weren't raised at the time of deciding on its composition.