In her column in the Herald on Sunday, Dani Garavelli took aim at the WinterFest installation in Glasgow's George Square.
She wrote: "It’s a dismal, off-putting affair. From outside, the top of the helter-skelter, swing chairs and carousel horses are just visible over the top of the M&N Events hoardings.
"Inside, a scattering of stalls offer faux German market wares: snowman snow globes, churros, and fudge that looks as if it has been lying in state since the death of Queen Victoria.
"With stewards in hi-vis jackets manning the entrance, it is as far from the spirit of Christmas – and the spirit of self-consciously egalitarian Glasgow – as it is possible to imagine.
Read More: Magic of Christmas has been completely lost in the pursuit of profit at George Square
"You are reminded of this contradiction if you approach the square from Hanover Street. There, the city’s People Make Glasgow slogan peers out, faded, but still legible, between the spokes of the Ferris Wheel. Like the eyes of Dr TJ Eckleburg, the big block capitals offer a reproach to the capitalist wasteland below.
"They force you to ask fundamental questions such as: *which* people make Glasgow? And whose interests does the city serve? Is it the rough sleeper huddled in a duvet just outside the WinterFest exit? Is it the family on Universal Credit racking up debt to put a few gifts under the tree? Or is it only those who can afford to pay £7.50 a head for a whirl on the wheel and a fiver for a bag of four doughnuts?"
Do you agree with her opinion of WinterFest and other such events in our big cities? Have your say in our poll below.
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