3rd November 2011, 11:26 PM
Wax Wrote:Sign me up for that! Where do I send a CV?I have heard this before, Wax, that the local societies could get involved. I am not sure how that would work, though. Irrespective of whether they could muster the person-power and time to do this, nearly all the people I know in the voluntary sector would not be willing to do work that ought to have been done by professionals. Many of them are qualified in other fields and certainly have the skills and knowledge to do this, probably with dividends, but they too have principles. They would not want to be used by political (Coaliton) ideologists to man the front line and so be a retrospective justification of the policy of cutting.
However well informed and motivated local archaeology groups can use some of the ideas encapsulated in "Localism Bill" to query and counteract some of the nonsense going on in local councils. The well informed public might be the only hope.
They would campaign to support professionals and fight to keep posts etc, but no one I know would be willing to be the scab that might be the 'answer' that the Coalition claims exists in the local communities. They already balk at being described as 'Big Society' in action when they do do free heritage-related work (and get scoffed at by many pros for undermining their potential gross earnings and standing). Do not expect many, if any, to rush forward to fill the breech.