In the dark days of the 1970s, the politician Alistair McAlpine commissioned Quinlan Terry to design a giant rusticated column, topped by an urn.
The Labour government was then threatening a wealth tax – hence the inscription, in Latin, which read ‘This monument was built with a large sum of money that would otherwise have fallen into the hands of the tax collectors.’
Well, people say that the conditions of today are all too similar to those that created the Three-Day Week. Perhaps somebody could design a folly to remember the billions spent on the COVID pandemic. Of course, it might not be terribly funny.
But, historically, that has been the point of follies. They were often serious little pieces of pure architecture, which could cost an inordinate
