I don't remember when I first saw a picture of Rodin's Burgers of Calais (Les Bourgeois de Calais - there you are, my little nod to the European Community), it must have been when I was around ten years old and I do remember being very struck by the group of figures and the story that goes with it. It was the 1300's, the Hundred Years War, Calais had been under seige by the English for a year, the people were starving and forced to surrender. The English king agreed to spare the city if six of it's leading men would come out naked with ropes around their necks. Calais' wealthiest resident volunteered and five others joined him. The group of figures shows them just as they are leaving the city, a group of men surrendering themselves to death.

There are a number of castings of the group around the world, apart from the original in Calais. This one is rather ironiclly located outside the Houses of Pairliament. I wonder, does the occasional MP or PM gaze upon them as they are whisked away in a limousine and reflect on the latest vote on Afghanistan or whatever else is troubling them at the time? Probably not.