25th May 2011, 04:34 PM
I don't know what Unitof1's concerns are with this post as I added him to my ignore list some time ago (a decision that I've had absolutely no cause to regret, and indeed one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone!). However, from some of the replies to his posts and my previous exposure to his emails, I'd imagine that he probably views it as a conspiracy of pension-grabbers to make work for other pension-grabbers by creating a cushy publicly-funded non-job, all designed to make life even more difficult for the Only Real Archaeologist In The World (him) by wrapping him in a burdensome cocoon of red tape and attempting to seize control of his valuable copyright by ever more onerous requirements to work to professional standards or share the results of his fieldwork with the wider community. My reading of it is more benign - I think all the IFA want the consultant to do is write something that sets out what an HER should and shouldn't do. I'd have thought that this is something that contractors would support - they're expected to work to IFA standards, why should the HER that monitors their work on behalf of the planning authority be any different?
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum