In previous years the trees, created each year by a different artist, have hung upside down, been stuffed dead into a supermarket trolley, suspended in mid-air and pierced by a bolt of neon lightning. Tracey Emin's was replaced with an apologetic note saying she'd given the tree to a charity.
Fiona Banner's tree is called Peace on Earth 2007, with the ominous jagged silhouette of a stealth fighter up at the top where the fairy should be. The tree is hung with the favourite toys of many children - particularly adolescent boys - which are also images of killing machines.
The artist, known for her huge text descriptions of war films, has made what appears to be traditional kit models of all the world's 122 fighter planes, after a considerable amount of research to discover exactly which planes are in service, not something many countries like to boast about.
Some models are commercially available, others do not exist in kit form, so she had to create them from scratch, and as the more anoraky small visitors will undoubtedly clock immediately, she has chosen not to give any of them insignia or any markings of nationality.
As she assembled the collection she realised how many of the originals of her models perched on or half hidden among the branches have been named after birds, including the Harrier jump jets, and Albatross, Hawk, Falcon and Eagle fighters. She describes the result as both seductive and unsettling.
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