The humble “Works Unit Only” sign that greets motorists entering Scotland on the M6 will soon be replaced by a giant sculpture of, according to taste, a starburst, St Andrew’s cross or Highland dancers.
Cecil Balmond, designer of the Star of Caledonia, said it was partly inspired by the work of James Clerk Maxwell, the great Scottish scientist born in 1831, whose work on electromagnetism made possible the radio telescopes that scan furthest space .