On Garden Gnomes
Oh no.
It seems from their website that more worthy members of the FLNJ ( Front de liberation des Nains de Jardin, the movement for Garden Gnomes everywhere, but particularly France and Belgium, really) have been caught red-handed and charged. Again. The struggle against the subjugation of our bearded little friends counts yet more casualties.

The gnome of the garden variety must be one of y favourite cultural fossils.
A cultural fossil – that’s a pattern of belief or behaviour so deeply embedded in our surroundings that no-one questions them, like crossing oneself in front of a wall where the statue of a saint used to be, or just simple superstitions. So, omnipresent garden gnomes - very cute objects; very cute indeed. But do people want them simply for cuteness? I don’t think so. The gnomes provide some of that sugar in the drink that Western religions no longer offer, and which the watered_ down humanitarianism that passes with so many people for religion offers even less. The gnomes speak of a longing, unrecognised but all the stronger for its invisibility, for the garden- god, the image of the earth spirit, the kobold, the kabir, the guardian of the household. Dreadful on the eye as they are, they have a truth you won’t find in the birdbath and the sundial.

Off to not buy a garden gnome. At all. Instead I’ll roll around in bed and listen to David Bowie. Ooooh, shivers.