I know I should step away.

But a couple of things are directly relevant to the freedom and ease of access to the sites that we all visit on here, and it's worth mentioning them in the context of OS maps, austerity and socialism.

First, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the amazing access to the countryside that enables us to visit prehistoric sites if it weren't for socialism. Without socialist activists (some of them were even communists), there would have been no "mass trespass" on Kinder Scout in the 1930s. And that action led directly (albeit slowly) to the introduction of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, a piece of Labour legislation which has massively increased the amount of land, especially in upland areas, that we can all access *as of right* without needing to seek permission from wealthy landowners.

Second, without the state creating and maintaining a national mapping organisation, the Ordnance Survey, we wouldn't have access to the wonderfully detailed maps that show prehistoric sites at an impressive 1:25000 - most countries national mapping is at 1:50000 or smaller. The OS was entirely self-funding as of 2006, under a Labour government. http://www.charlesclosesociety.org/files/HistoryOSGB.pdf

The fact that its ownership model was changed under the Coalition was therefore unnecessary for any reasons of budget restraint, as the OS actually puts money into the Treasury.

The current Conservative government may well privatise or part privatise the OS: this will be done for ideological reasons, not because the OS is inefficient as a publicly owned and run body. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin[...]e-23bn-of-taxpayer-assets.html