Columnist Jonathan Brocklebank criticises the Scottish Government for allowing the fire-damaged Glasgow School of Art, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, to remain a derelict shell for more than eight years while the city celebrates a new public artwork honouring the same architect. He contrasts this with the response to the 2019 Notre Dame fire in Paris, where President Emmanuel Macron pledged immediate reconstruction and the cathedral was fully restored within roughly five and a half years, arguing that Scotland's leadership showed no comparable urgency or ambition after the Glasgow building burned.

The Mackintosh-designed art school, completed in 1909 and regarded by many architects as "Scotland's Notre Dame," was gutted by fires in both 2014 and 2018. A full restoration has now been costed at £265million, deemed unaffordable, meaning only a partial rebuild will proceed, with scaffolding removed and the façade retained rather than the interior fully reinstated. The piece notes this plan was welcomed as a "milestone" by Historic Environment Scotland's chief executive, Katerina Brown, a characterisation the author disputes, framing it instead as a resigned acceptance of national heritage loss.