The people's pestilence
Trouble at a new paddling pool
DIANAFICATION, a treacly, patronising populism that has little to do with the good works the late princess championed, does not mix well with science. While sentiment triumphed at the unveiling this month of a Diana memorial fountain in London's Hyde Park, science quickly took its revenge. First it blocked and flooded. Then visitors trampled the grass verges to mud. Finally three people fell and hurt themselves while paddling over the slippery granite.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The people's pestilence”
From the July 31st 2004 edition
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