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20th February 2009, 10:57 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7899938.stm
Go on, all give it a hit and see if we can reach most popular list.
If only we were covered by legislation.....
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20th February 2009, 11:26 AM
At least the authorative Prof. Horton didn't cite Bonekickers!
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20th February 2009, 02:17 PM
Thanks for flagging that up - good article, shame it's hidden in the England region page - should be in the 'Science and Environment' section.
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20th February 2009, 02:38 PM
It's good that the story is getting some coverage, but was anyone else infuriated by the quote attributed to Mike Pitts:
"In the long-term the nation suffers because we're losing people who are [u]very, very cheap</u> and who are creating our nation's story."
I'm also not sure what qualifies Mark Horton to talk about it - apart from wanting to plug his own site. In Mike Pitts' British Archaeology article on this crisis, and Mark Horton's assessment of it for the Beeb, everyone seems to conveniently forget that the predicted job losses by the end of 2009 of up to 1,400 won't come from the academic sector and [u]probably</u> won't come from museums and curatorial, it's all going to come from the commercial field units... and then you're not talking a quarter of staff, you're talking up to HALF!
Paul
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20th February 2009, 03:34 PM
Not sure about the term 'fanatical devotees' either. Makes us sound like brainwashed cultists.
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20th February 2009, 04:09 PM
Some curatorial and museum jobs are definitely under threat already. We've been in a situation where the local museum (as in the one that covers the entire authority) has been under threat and we've been campaigning hard to make sure it doesn't. It's gone a bit quiet on that front for the time being but now the HER post is facing a very uncertain future. So it really isn't just the commercial sector thats taking the hit.
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20th February 2009, 05:08 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by archgirl19
It's gone a bit quiet on that front for the time being but now the HER post is facing a very uncertain future.
Just in time for the new Heritage Bill to make HERs a statutory requirement. What? Oh! [:I]
?He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself?
Chinese Proverb
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20th February 2009, 06:39 PM
I'm sorry to disagree with Paul Everill on this, but if you take a look over the figure coming from the IfA. You will find that they do represent and equate the 1 in 5 job losses to include academia, the museums, and the curatorial sectors.
Although the differential levels of layoff, will indeed be predominantly be borne by the private sector, you have to be realise that this is as a economic response from a corporate field finance system.
This is the business. Affecting the data coming in and that is not the be all and end all of things.
We are cheap.
Very cheap in fact. But the real issue with what was said, should not be about the expense that we incure upon the client, or our representation within the economic data, but rather, that we 'are creating our nation's story'.
Sorry to say this but, if we have vocally and media-respeceted individuals telling joe public that we are 'creating', people will start thinking we are a pointless exercise. And that we dont have a reason to be here, doing this at all.
On the other hand, we have been creating a database of archives that represent economic boom mindset interpretations.
There is so much more to this that we haven't even imagined yet.
I think we should stop thinking about the finance of the current situation, as being our future.
We do need to be imaginitive and inspiring, but we cannot get drawn down a track where our heritage input into the wider culture, is forgotten to a credit crunch orientated, finance culture menatlity.
be positive
As for fanatical:
Well I wouldn't like to open up on that issue, as we just have to think beyond the current horizons of archaeology.
Again what is important is 'being positive' and 'thinking about what is important', from this current situation.
txt is
Mike
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20th February 2009, 07:01 PM
Of course, any figures for job losses being bandied around are little short of guesswork. However, today's stock market fall tells me it ain't getting better, but worse.
I think that the Cotswold jobs I pointed to on a previous post are the first archaeological signs of infrastructure projects being advanced. More please!
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20th February 2009, 07:17 PM
If we had legislative backing now, we would be canned so fast, the industry would cease to exist.
There are too many hardliners for heritage and too many who don't give a damb.
We have professionalism, but if the industry continues to shrink, we would increasingly fall to either side and that would be impossible to work through a legal system, with enough interested parties having spare time to campaign.
Infastructure may start, but one swallow, does not make a spring.
For now what is important is keeping as much of the industries viable institutional real-estate alive and commercially kicking.
If we don't, we are going to have to start from scratch, from the embers of all!
That, I'm afraid, may be all the time needed, to get rid archaeology, off the planning books.
txt is
Mike
