Threadneedle Tripe

That appalling load of tripe The Threadneedle Prize for Painting & Sculpture raises its ugly head yet again at the Mall Galleries in London on 25 September. Of the six shortlisted works, the only one with any pretence to originality is Seamus Moran's Urban Burka (2013) made out of training shoes and priced at £3,000. I assume this is intended as a put-down to Muslims, who regard shoes as some form of insult. The other five shortlisted works are complete rubbish, as is the bulk of "art" in the exhibition (CLICK). Why on earth Threadneedle Investments should waste £30,000 on any of this pathetic tripe is beyond me. Advertising? Why demean your firm by associating its name with profligacy and failure?