12 hours ago
Is it time to hang up on these great red relics?
I n Parliament Square this week, I had to jostle to pass a queue. Reaching the front, I saw what it was for: a red telephone box. But no one was actually making calls. Instead each tourist took their turn, leaning against Gilbert Scott's design classic while a friend snapped a picture with Big Ben in the background.
This is, I suppose, why this particular telephone box remains. But it was an empty shell. It didn't even bear the once traditional central London wallpaper of escort calling cards to save its dignity. Presumably that business has gone on to mobile phones too.
It had all the melancholic pointlessness of a giant panda being played sexy music by its keepers in the hope it will finally reproduce, or some new scheme to shore up Venice. Sometimes even the noblest of heritage cannot be saved. Just let them die in dignity.
