The Times - UK (2020-07-31)

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the times | Friday July 31 2020 2GM 5


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parents had offered to pay for the treat-
ment “to help rehabilitate him”.
Judge Brooks ruled that the case
hinged on discussions with a studio
representative in which Mr Willett
asked if he would be given a wig. “He
was told that it was not,” the judge said.
Mr Willett was a “truthful and com-
pelling witness” and there was no evi-
dence to contradict his account. The
judge was “satisfied Mr Willett should
recover the sum he seeks and that the
contract is effectively rescinded”.
International Hair Studio faces a
total bill of nearly £6,000.

Hikers could face having to pay a toll to


climb Snowdon if councillors in north


Wales back moves to manage visitor


numbers.


The toll plan will be considered at a


Gwynedd council meeting in October


with hopes that the money could be


reinvested in tourist facilities and


communities supporting the industry.


Members will be asked to support an


“appropriate fee” levied on people


climbing the highest peak in Wales,


which could be as little as £1. This could


then be split between Snowdonia


National Park and Gwynedd council, it


has been suggested.


The national park, meanwhile, has


questioned the proposal, claiming that


it “would not be legal or enforceable”.


The motion had been put forward by


Glyn Daniels, a councillor who repre-


sents Ffestiniog’s Diffwys and Maenof-


feren ward. He told the Daily Post: “This


‘Toupee’ firm comes unstuck


after man expects transplant


Jonathan Ames Legal Editor


A personal trainer who claimed that a
£4,000 hair replacement looked like a
“glued-on wig” and triggered asthma
attacks has received compensation.
Edward Willett told a court he “was
shocked and started crying” when he
realised that the state-of-the-art “hair
system” was in fact a “toupee”. He also
had a bad reaction to the hair replace-
ment’s bonding agent.
Richard Rowe, of International Hair
Studio, told Central London county
court that Mr Willett had been clearly
advised that he was agreeing to a “hair
replacement”, not a transplant.
But yesterday Judge Paul Brooks
ordered the company to refund Mr
Willett and pay damages.
Mr Willett, who conducts fitness ses-
sions for the elderly, had attended a
consultation at the company’s London
headquarters. Nearly a year later, in
2017, he signed up. When he returned
for a fitting “he realised that what he
had got wasn’t what he was expecting”,
Judge Brooks said in his ruling.
At the time Mr Willett, of Ipswich,
had mental health problems and his

That’s steep: hikers face


fee to conquer Snowdon


Charlotte Wace


Northern Correspondent


would not only raise revenue for both
the council and the park, but could also
contribute to building new car parks,
therefore lessening the number of
vehicles illegally parking on the roads
on certain days.
“It should be remembered that
several countries pursue these kinds of
policies. I refer to Switzerland, Canada
and New Zealand to name a few.”
The debate has had a mixed reaction
on social media with many people
saying that the “great outdoors” should
be free for everyone to enjoy.
Writing on Facebook, Lisa Suzuki
said: “You cannot charge people for en-
joying mother nature, are they going to
charge for swimming in the sea next?
For God’s sake sort car parks out and
charge a day rate there instead.”
Others were supportive, with one
saying: “The vast majority are day
trippers. They pollute and litter the
place and f-off back home leaving us to
clear up their mess. Charge them.”
Dafydd Meurig, Plaid Cymru

Gwynedd’s deputy leader, said that
they “sorely need to find ways of
increasing the contribution tourism
brings to the area”.
However, he questioned whether a £
charge would be “practical”, adding: “I
would certainly support other meas-
ures which are widely used on main-
land Europe, such as the introduction
of a tourism tax.”
The Snowdonia National Park
Authority said that any such measure
could only be introduced by the
government. “It would not be legal or
enforceable to charge a toll on Yr
Wyddfa [Snowdon] due to the Country-
side and Right of Way act which allows
access for all to certain areas of the
countryside”, a spokesperson said. “In
addition, Welsh National Parks do not
have local tax-raising powers.”
However, the authority “welcomes
the need for a national conversation”
about improving visitor management.
Gwynedd council would not com-
ment directly on the suggested tax.

P


erched on a cherry atop a
31ft swirl of whipped
cream, a drone will offer
24-hour footage of
Trafalgar Square as part
of the new artwork on the fourth
plinth (Kaya Burgess writes).
Embedded in the drone are
cameras so that those gazing up at
the sculpture can log in online to
find the sculpture looking back at
them. The work, The End, was
created by the British artist
Heather Phillipson and is the
tallest artwork ever to occupy the
fourth plinth. It will remain in
place until spring 2022.
Phillipson conceived the idea in
2016 just after the EU referendum
and before Donald Trump became
president. “I felt like a collapse or
a shift was under way,” she said at
the unveiling yesterday. “Cream
felt like a substance that when you
expose it to air or heat it just
collapses.” Asked about the fly, she
said: “Often flies are associated
with things on the verge of decay.”
She added: “The drone references
the militaristic nature of a lot of
the other statues on the site.”
Ekow Eshun, chairman of the
Fourth Plinth commissioning
group, said the work “expresses
something of the fraught times
we’re living through”.

Fourth plinth


takes selfies


of viewers


JAMES VEYSEY/REX SHUTTERSTOCK

The artist Heather
Phillipson at the
unveiling yesterday.
Cameras in the
artwork will
live-stream footage
of Trafalgar Square

What an absurd confection


... let this really be the end


The cherry on the cake has become
the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The clash between those two figures
of speech could scarcely be more
ludicrous than that between
Trafalgar Square’s stark neoclassical
setting and the latest fourth plinth
sculpture that was erected at its heart
yesterday.
The fourth plinth commission was

a great idea when it started. It put
our stuffy traditions of public
statuary under the spotlight.
Offerings over the course of the
past 13 years have ranged from Mark
Wallinger’s touchingly simple Ecce
Homo through Marc Quinn’s
challenging sculpture of a heavily
pregnant woman with no arms to
Antony Gormley’s widely inclusive
contribution, in which members of
the public applied for slots to stage
their own displays.
The debate each has stirred has
been as important as the idea. What
can Heather Phillipson add with her
wilfully absurd confection?

Her title, The End, is the best clue
you will get. She first conceived of
the work, she says, at a difficult
political moment. Britain had voted
for Brexit. Trump was soon to be
elected. Everything felt unstable, she
explained: on the verge of the sort of
meltdown which she describes
visually by placing a massive squirt of
overspilling cream on a pedestal.
The cherry on top pits its
upward-soaring stalk against Nelson’s
landmark column. The comparison is
intentionally ridiculous. This
sculpture could be dismissed as
harmless, money-wasting fun
were it not for the sinister overtones

of the crawling fly and the
surveillance drone that records the
Covid-emptied heart of our capital.
Phillipson wilfully creates
something that feels out of place in
its architectural setting. The problem,
however, is that it also feels
completely out of place with its
times.
In light of the fierce current debate
about the significance of public
statues, her creation seems frivolous,
ludicrous. The End marks the
moment to bring the fourth plinth
commission to its conclusion. It’s
time something permanent went up
in that space.

Visual art
Rachel Campbell-Johnston

The End


Trafalgar Square


HIIII


Edward Willett before and, looking
remarkably similar, after treatment
Free download pdf