Statue "protection" propsals

[Fambo Number Mive]

Our government seem to have time to plan new laws regarding the removal of statues during a pandemic and the issues caused by Brexit.

It's very popular with their supporters though - making it harder for statues commemorating slave traders, human rights abusers and white supremacists to be removed.

The government is planning new laws to protect statues in England from being removed "on a whim or at the behest of a baying mob", Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has said.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said generations-old monuments should be "considered thoughtfully".

The legislation would require planning permission for any changes and a minister would be given the final veto.

It will be revealed in Parliament on Monday...

It doesn't seem very democratic that a minister (which?) in London can veto the removal of a statue in Leeds. Surely it also creates more bureaucracy which the Tories are meant to be against.

Getting rid of a statue is hardly seeking to "erase part of the nation's history", given information about these people is in museums, in books, and online. Also, how many people learn anything extra from statues other than "this person was thought to deserve a statue?"

Government worried about losing votes to Farage's new party and wanting to distract from the mess they have made of COVID and Brexit, probably.

Also it's laughable Jenrick saying "We live in a country that believes in the rule of law" but being part of a government that was willing to break international law.

[PlanktonSideburns]

time to start blowing the things up then inni

[Paul Calf]

It's inicipient fascism.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Keith will probably support it but want to know why it didn't happen earlier.

[Buelligan]

It's a bit weird, isn't it?  I'm guessing, as the people that cunted Colston are facing charges, there already are some rules regarding ex tempore statue curation. 

So what is this about?  An opportunity for Jenrick to plate up his balls for admiration - yup.  And, I'm guessing, an insurance policy to make sure no jumped up little local polly gets to rule on whether Thatcher is recycled into ploughshares.  Jenrick is an abject hoor, I look forward to never hearing about him ever again.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/25/the-three-housing-controversies-robert-jenrick-is-facing-down

[Johnny Yesno]

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said generations-old monuments should be "considered thoughtfully".

i.e. at a £12,000 a head tory fundraiser dinner.

[Buelligan]

What other country would plan to pour a million tons, of concrete, asphalt and steel into @UNESCO World Heritage Site? A site described by UNESCO as a 'holy place and an incomparable testimony to prehistoric times.' All for 8 minutes less on London to Exeter journey times!

https://twitter.com/savestonehenge/status/1343536644402634758
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_road_tunnel

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

^ A very good point.

It's inicipient fascism.

I don't that whatever happens to these things should be decided by a mob on the streets either. Local councils should hold a public debate and then a vote with some meaningful options.

[Zetetic]

Wonder what one can get classified as a monument.

I want Patel to have to personally assent to the towing of abandoned 1991 three-door Vauxhall Astra.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Didn't the 'baying mobs' pull Colston down because people had been trying to use process to remove it for decades and were getting nowhere?

[Norton Canes]

Notice that Jenrick also cunts in with a dig at the term 'woke'. Dog whistling, plain and simple.

[Alberon]

I'd vote for it...


As long as there is a provision that allows a petition to peacefully remove statues after a local vote.

[bgmnts]

It's sort of like the concept of privilege, thick cunts really don't understand what history means. Or statues.
Or slavery.
Or anything really.

[idunnosomename]

this is just to deflect what Jenrick is really up to as housing sec, starting deregulation for asset-strippers to landgrab public space

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/right-to-regenerate-to-turn-derelict-buildings-into-homes-and-community-assets

they dont care about history. what they DO care about is helping the economy, that is letting rich people get richer

[JamesTC]

Won't somebody please think of the statues.

[RenegadeScrew]

Statutes for statues

Unless they are in foreign countries we've invaded and they afford a good PR op to show the locals fully support our atrocities.

[Buelligan]

I'd vote for it...


As long as there is a provision that allows a petition to peacefully remove statues after a local vote.

There is but the minister gets the final say. 

[Captain Z]

Second world problems.

[Fambo Number Mive]

You can see the Telegraph column here: https://twitter.com/lottelydia/status/1350735235651133441/photo/1

Just gets more and more sinister

"It is absurd and shameful that the statue of Sir Winston Churchill should be questioned"

Why? We should have the right to question the placement and appropriateness of whatever statue we want.

Two paragraphs ranting about Labour as well.

He claims Birmingham City Council won't allow new streets to be named after historical figures and then says this will cause residents to have their address "forcibly changed". Surely if the streets are new then they won't have been given the name of a historical figure?

In related news the thinktank Policy Exchange have launched a "history project"

Yet whose history is it? And how should it be written/commemorated in the public sphere? Few are stopping to debate these questions*. And in this fast-moving debate, it is noticeable that the voice of the public** has scarcely been considered...

Policy Exchange's History Matters Project – chaired by Trevor Phillips, Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, and launched today – will address these concerns, document the re-writing of history as it happens, and explore modern Britain's treatment of its past. It brings together a panel of historians, thinkers and experts in public policy to reflect on the way in which history is being debated in the public sphere: how it is presented in our institutions, from statues in town squares to national museum exhibits; how it is taught in this country's schools and universities; and how it can be used to create a shared sense of belonging and identity that befits 21st century Britain.

The History Matters Project has the following members on its panel – historians, public figures and people interested in history:
Trevor Phillips – Chair
Nimco Ali
Lord Bew of Donegore
Professor Jeremy Black
Dr Amanda Foreman
Professor Greta Jones
Dr Zareer Masani
Andrew Roberts
Sir Anthony Seldon
Samir Shah
Chris Skidmore MP

* There's plenty of debate on this subject, mainly on the left though.
**Aren't the many people who called for the Colston statue to be removed (including those who did remove it) the public?

I suspect almost all requests from local people from a statue to be removed will be vetoed by a minister, unless they come from the right.

[chveik]

Didn't the 'baying mobs' pull Colston down because people had been trying to use process to remove it for decades and were getting nowhere?

yes. and it's been said many times.

imagine there's a vote and the 'not removing the statues' side wins. you can't trust local justice. democracy's fucking scam I tell ya

[Buelligan]

This is what you get.

[Inspector Norse]

Wait a minute Robert Jenrick still has a cabinet post?

[drummersaredeaf]

Couldn't there be a Big Society solution here? People are allowed to rip down whatever they want providing they can overcome a force of plucky volunteers that are willing to keep an eye on it. The very definition of democracy.

[Buelligan]

I think it should all be clad, at public expense.  Then, if it should accidentally burn to the ground, no one is responsible.

[evilcommiedictator]

Cover all statues in piss and faeces so no-one can touch it to pull it down. We'll call it a layer of Thatcher

[idunnosomename]

Wait a minute Robert Jenrick still has a cabinet post?

this is his first one isnt it? after the downfall of May arse-sniffer in chief James Brokenshire

[canadagoose]

Cover all statues in piss and faeces so no-one can touch it to pull it down. We'll call it a layer of Thatcher

100%. Also fuck the Telegraph. Wrap all copies of the Telegraph in a layer of frozen piss (well in WH Smith at least, seeing as they put their Telegraphs in the fridge). Or shit on them. Who cares.

[willbo]

the stupid thing is all these people will dig up some obscure bigoted thing Karl Marx or Che Guevera said once. But talk about Churchill's flaws and they'll sagely despair at "mudslinging".

[Brundle-Fly]

.

[idunnosomename]

the stupid thing is all these people will dig up some obscure bigoted thing Karl Marx or Che Guevera said once. But talk about Churchill's flaws and they'll sagely despair at "mudslinging".

thats because Churchill is good and those people are bad! didn't you pay attention at school?