Stonehenge and its Environs 134
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Stonehenge and its Environs

Stonehenge views?

nigelswift N
nigelswift Jul 26, 2006 07:14:02
Replying to Littlestone

"I wanna a long bore tunnel and a visitor centre a long way away from the site (somewhere like Dundee springs to mind)"

Beautifully succinct and reasonable. I suppose it could be further refined to "Don't hurt Stonehenge".

Yet the government, eagerly supported by EH (which exists to "ensure the preservation of our historic surroundings" is about to hurt it really badly.

How? They got lucky. Long tunnel rhymes with short tunnel and both can be shortened to "tunnel" in press releases.

The "tunnel" (short, not long) will involve bulldozing new junctions, slip roads, and a brand new four-lane dual carriageway across ONE THIRD of the WHS causing massive destruction to the protected landscape. The "tunnel" (long, not short) or simply doing nothing ... wouldn't.

Kate Fielden, an archaeologist on the Stonehenge Alliance who knows a lot and clearly has no axe to grind, sums it up -

"Stonehenge is not just the stone circle: it's a unique complex of interrelated monuments extending over a landscape of some 5,000 acres. The Highways Agency's glossy before-and-after photos are highly misleading: they show nothing of the destruction on either side of the short tunnel."

Meanwhile, EH continues to push for the short tunnel - to the extent of spending taxpayers' money running what they say is a news item on the subject but which is simply a propoganda exercise trying to push people to their way of thinking. "Support for the 2.1 km tunnel at Stonehenge continues". Does that sound like a news item to you? And note the sublime use of words. Short bored tunnel is now "2.1km long bored tunnel" !!

L Littlestone
Littlestone Jul 26, 2006 10:30:38
Replying to nigelswift

The "tunnel" (short, not long) will involve bulldozing new junctions, slip roads, and a brand new four-lane dual carriageway across ONE THIRD of the WHS causing massive destruction to the protected landscape. The "tunnel" (long, not short) or simply doing nothing ... wouldn't.
It's stating the obvious I know but whatever is done in the end will be first and foremost based on costs - not on what is the best for the site. I could understand it if the country was broke but millions of pounds are wasted every week by bungling bureaucrats, and the obscene plan to spend 25 billion pounds (and the rest) on upgrading the country's 'nuclear deterrent' just illustrates where the true priorities of those in power lie.

We (as a species) need to make a mega mind-shift away from what we are told is important to what we know in our hearts is important. Things like proper care for the elderly, sick and poor, adequate protection of the environment and our cultural heritage - not bombing the brains out of people all over the place and planning to do even more of it with even bigger and smarter bombs.

Grrr... it's hot, but I feel the same way even when it's cold :-)

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