I have no problem with that BN and I have the greatest respect and admiration for you and your endeavours - and that is not bull shit. It's because we care so much that we get so steamed up and angry about delays, damage, vandalism, bureaucracy and all the other horrors that afflict the ancient places that we care about. And sometimes we just have a go at each other out of frustration, because we can't hit out at the real villains. I understand that and perhaps that is also a valuable function of this forum.
Yes - of course I would sack the consultants and that is why I'm horrified at more delays and more consultations and more paper and more talk ad infini-bloody-nitum!
Yes - I agree with you about the perilous position of heritage in this country. It's better here than elsewhere in the world if you read half the stuff that comes across my desk from France, USA, eastern Europe and elsewhere. That is no comfort of course and our philistine government should be ashamed of its track record. EH has had its budgets slashed, its staff slaughtered and some projects now rely on lottery funding! I don't blame EH for that and continue to believe that they are doing the best they can but the odds are heavily against them. I also believe that we should work with them and try to influence decisions rather than confront and simply bang heads against brick walls. Others will disagree and that is their right. May their head-banging prevail!
Yes- I agree that grass roots organisations and individuals must shout loud and often about damage, neglect, exploitation and inappropriate developments that threaten ancient sites. We each need to fight our own corners and each of us individually cannot fight every threat everwhere. My fight is to prevent the expansion of Stansted Airport - that will flatten more listed buildings than Hitler's Luftwaffe did! The damage to unknown archaeology in this stoneless (and thus not visible and sexy) but heavily settled prehistoric landscape will be staggering. eg - we have 11 henges but you cannot see anything of them on the ground.
However robust the discussion among ourselves may be - we should not forget that we are on the same side. We should never lose sight of the real enemy either - fat cat extraction companies, developers, bureaucrats, landowners, politicians and mindless vandals.
