When people take an iconic act of Glasgow's civil disobedience and turn it into a mindless act of self-promotion, it reminds us all why the Duke of Wellington is wearing a cone, writes columnist Marissa MacWhirter.

This week, a street artist stuck a pigeon on the Duke of Wellington’s head, replacing the cone with an act of self-promotion that unseated within me a deep sense of despair.

The bronze cone-wearing pigeon, crafted by Glasgow muralist The Rebel Bear, was reading a newspaper titled The Daily Dropping. The Rebel Bear shared professional pictures and drone footage of the piece on his Instagram, captioning it “The dignified and undignified beasts. Located: well, youse know where” and adding a dozen hashtags to get the word out.

At first, I grappled with the feeling of unease that it stirred within me, because the sculpture is objectively cute even if it missed the mark. And it is not like the cone has never been corrupted by commercial interests. But this particular stunt has reignited debate (perhaps unintentionally) about what the cone actually means today. What happens when an act of civil disobedience becomes a commodity? What does that say about the collective mood of the city these days? This absurd pigeon parody is a conduit for considering ownership, meaning, and whether the symbol of Glasgow’s defiance has been transfigured into a symbol of resignation.

I cringe whenever I see the cone wearing Duke of Wellington on tea towels or magnets, but not typically when I see the monument before me. Because in real life, you can acknowledge the scale of the statue, and the effort it takes to actually climb up........

© Herald Scotland