I agree, beautifully put.

Like you George, I came to this game late, from "elsewhere". Perhaps there's some significance in that, in that the parlous state of the heritage protection system hit us both like a bolt, all at once. Everyone moans about all sorts of aspects of society and public affairs but the heritage sector really does seem to be in a worse state than most.

I think there are very few bad guys, it's mostly very dedicated good guys but they're caught up in a lousy system where they're maimed by bureaucracy and finance.

Like you say, "I think the truth is quite a number of us have realised that there is only one watchdog for our heritage - us. And we have each decided that we will watch over our heritage in our own way. Some of us have formed groups others go it alone or try to get involved in alternative ways."

There's a problem. And of course, it's a non-renewable resource that's being poorly treated by society. So there's only two solutions, wait till the government quadruples the budget or get those of the public that give a damn to do what they can themselves.