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Rightyho-
A couple of us have offered this one so here we go.Write to your MPs and let us have their responses.Pity the poor sod who gets mine.......
..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)
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Of course, we would all have to agree on what the problems and solutions are before we could do that - not an easy thing, reading the rest of BAJR!
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
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How about using APPAG's report as a starting point?
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We don't all necessarily agree with everything in that either.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
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Evening everyone.Perhaps it would be just as useful if we wrote individually.As you point out-we disagree on many issues.By writing individually, MPs should at the very least recognise that the industry/profession has a wide range of problems on many levels.MPs can`t fail to see that the job is in need of urgent attention.I have to admit that I have`nt got round to it yet myself.This weekend should see the first draft.
..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)
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13th March 2006, 09:07 AM
I am probably being very dim, but what aspects of the profession do you think your MPs are going to be able to do anything about? Surely problems like pay and conditions are concerns that would be seen as within the sphere of digger/unit operations and of not much interest in a political sense. I can see that raising the profile of these issues would be a good thing, but as field archaeologists represent such a tiny minority of a constituency, it's hardly going to be a vote winner. As for commercial archaeology as a whole, what exactly is so wrong with it? As I say, I probably am being very dim, so if somebody could explain it all..............
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13th March 2006, 10:08 AM
Well, lack of regulation by overworked and underfunded curatorial and other local authority departments definitely allows the more extreme cases of employment law abuse, health & safety law abuse, not to mention destruction of a limited archaeological resource without adequate record.}
This is a direct result of government underfunding of local authorities, and is exactly the kind of thing that we should be writing to MP's about.
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13th March 2006, 10:10 AM
Hi SalonKitty,
A good introduction to the problems facing field archaeology is found in the report produced by the All Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group (known as APPAG)
http://www.sal.org.uk/appag/report/report.htm
Not everyone agrees with all of their findings in detail, but I think the issues they raise are generally accepted.
I too am sceptical about writing to MPs, but I suppose that the one thing MPs really care about is votes. Archaeology is popular and has an impact well beyond the ranks of field archaeologists, so they might think there are a few votes in it.
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13th March 2006, 01:54 PM
Mercenary - What are you talking about? Issues of H & S and employment law are not direct concerns or in the remit of LA curators or other LA departments for that matter although they may choose to follow up issues in these areas it's really not their job and probably never will be. But you are right on your third point, however. And there is enough meat there to keep curators busy without trying to do the work of the HSE or the unions too.[:p]
Liberal, dowsing antiquarian (reformed.
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13th March 2006, 02:29 PM
Vulpes, Fair enough. I have however resolved a fair few H&S issues with the help of curators rather than calling in the HSE. As for employment law: as it is [u]law </u>I presume that some level of government is responsible for enforcing it, even if it's not the local authority. It's certainly not enforced by the Union I used to belong to. If unions enforced employment law then there would be no need for unions
