Rescue sign open letter against cuts

[BAJR]

http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/201...inst-cuts/

Rescue are a signatory of an open letter which has highlighted the disproportionate nature of the cuts that the heritage sector is currently facing.
The letter lists three simple steps that the Government must take ?to safeguard the economic, cultural and social value of our past.?

1. Statutory protection of historic landscapes and monuments MUST remain at the heart of any reform to the planning system.
   
2. Careful investment MUST be undertaken in museums and historic buildings, recognising the value of heritage to this country?s economy.
   
3. Continued funding MUST be ensured for local and national heritage services, who promote and expand enjoyment of our historic environment.
   

Rescue were one of over 200 signatories to the letter, drawn from across the sector and beyond. The value of heritage to the economic, social and cultural life of Britain must be fully acknowledged and supported.
The letter was printed in the Times, today, the 20th May 2011.


Follow the link to see the full letter

[deadlylampshade]

Interesting list of who has signed it...perhaps as much for who HASN'T!!

[trowelfodder]

Wow - am in definite agreement with deadlylampshade it is shocking how many of the signatories are from universities and local societies and how few are from the heritage sector!!

Is it just me or is there no English Heritage, no Cadw, no local HERs/units and almost all of the archaeologists who signed up are freelance....................

Surely these are the organisations who should be signed up?

[deadlylampshade]

Glad it's not just me...

Hosty - were you not invited to sign it too?

[Wax]

It is possible the likes of EH and Local Government funded organisations are tied by their conditions of employment. It may not be possible for them to speak out against Government policies on National and regional level.

I have often wondered how independent a Government agency such as EH can truly be

[GnomeKing]

wtf...sign it quizzlings

[Unitof1]

[SIZE=3]Once lost, our natural and historical resources and the cultural and economic value which they represent are gone forever.
[/SIZE]

They make it sound like we will lose it all. gosh

20.6 billon but they don’t say where they get this figure from or how it contributes to our economy. Then they say that there are disproportionate cuts, both nationally and locally but don’t say how disproportionate or how they worked out the proportions…. do they,… like shouting fire but not saying where and how big, pointless exercise?


here we go-I suppose that if eh added their monikers it would make it an even more disproportionate bunch of signatories who are pension grabbers, thats probably as close as I dare have a go at the signaturies, I do wonder though why hosty sees the need to highlight Rescues involvement. I would imagine that rescue would be dead cert for all and any shout of fire.

[Unitof1]

ah so the "open" "letter" could only be viewed through a pay to view web site so rescue put a copy of the "letter" which they had signed along with various others (it gets difficult to work out who the original author is or if there was one which is like a civil service leek) up on their open web site to show that there had been an "open" "letter" in a "newspaper" presumably to show people who do not read the said newspaper that the said newspaper (the wife of one of the editors of the said newspaper apparently came up with the name of "nigeria" somehow) had wanted for its own reasons to publish .... This is like doing real life anthropology.



wHAT THEY WANT



1.Statutory protection of historic landscapes and monuments MUST remain at the heart of any reform to the planning system.
2.Careful investment MUST be undertaken in museums and historic buildings, recognising the value of heritage to this country’s economy.
3.Continued funding MUST be ensured for local and national heritage services, who promote and expand enjoyment of our historic environment


1 I didnt know that there was some statutory protection changes in the offing for the planning system. Are they saying that the planning system can now ignore statutory protection?

2 Whats careful investment mean. Oh yes get people to gamble and tax them then set up a london based thingy run by people “appointed”
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/NewTrusteesannouncedforNHMF.aspx


3 civil service jobs cuts who didn’t get a job on the heritage lottery board
(stop press cba given reprevie)

[BAJR]

Sadly - due to some error, I was not asked. Chris Cumberpatch has said mea culpa - they thought they had sent me a copy. It seems that the letter was sent around via email and passed between people, hence I suspect, the skewed signature list - an organic list rather than targetted. That said. BAJR (as BAJR) would have signed. and would have encouraged it.

The next is to move forward.

I do however appreciate Units contribution.

[Unitof1]

but how can we move forward. What worries me a lot is that once the letter is published in the said newspaper that they get the you know what © which presumably they want to exploit on their pay to view web pages. I think that bajr should get some assurance that it is alright to publish the letter or even link to it.