£25k of public money spent on a statue of the Blessed John Henry Newman

Birmingham city council will contribute £25,000 towards a statue of the Blessed John Henry Newman after only £5,000 was raised by public donations.

Is this really a good use of taxpayers' money during a recession? Edmund Standing at Harry's Place does not think so, but others disagree. Indeed, some commentators on the thread disagree.

Personally,I just find it laughable to see all the right-wing posters hurling abuse at Edmund Standing because he dares to question spending £25,000 on a statue during a recession.

I have no comment to make on whether the Blessed John Henry Newman was worthy of a statue or no – on balance I would say yes – but if this was a report on £25,000 of cuts to hospitals in Birmingham many of the right would yell “We’re all in this together” and blame Gordon Brown.

And even if this money couldn’t be added to the schools budget, surely it could be used to maintain Birmingham’s existing cultural artifacts, which would surely come under the same budget?