Thursday, December 01, 2011

There's Already Enough Tat In the World

Update: I thought it couldn't be worse but it is. They're selling Henry VIIII decorations too, £8.95.

Dismayed to find this on sale at the York Minster Online Shop.

That's right, you can spend £6.95 on a doll of Rowan Williams to hang on your Christmas tree. Or, if you're one of the many Anglican pressure groups you can buy one and then squeeze as hard as you can to get it to say what you want. Or if you're a journalist you can buy one and put words into his mouth.

But why buy one at all? With the 7 skinny cows emerging from the Nile and no Joseph's stockpile from the years of plenty, I can't see any possible world where this is the best use of £6.95.

Thanks to Huw for the tip off.

3 comments:

  1. I assume that as well as ++Canterbury they had one of ++York as well. If not, why not? York is Sentamu's provice not Williams'. People could buy both then and waste even more money. Can't imagine why anyone would want to hang either on a Christmas tree.

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  2. I'm told there is one for John Sentamu, but to be honest I couldn't bring myself to browse the York shop to find it.

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  3. There is indeed, already enough tat in the world, a goodly percentage of which is on sale in all Cathedral shops, not just York.
    There is however, a good aspect to this down-market junk emporia approach, namely that there are innumerable collectors of such dross, who pay handsomely for it and help fill the otherwise empty coffers.

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