Banksy and Vaizey

Our French colleagues at HAPPAH – Halte au pillage (https://twitter.com/happah_ and https://halte-au-pillage.org/) recently used Banksy’s Cave Painting image to illustrate their concerns ….

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However, in a spirit of fraternal co-operation we thought we’d add something for them so they could better explain to anyone left in France who still thinks Les Rosbifs have the issue of knowledge theft under control.

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It’s a 2010 image of the then Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey. Poor Ed was very badly briefed (by whom?) else he’d never have been photographed metal detecting (like employees of PAS never do!)

The truth is that even minority “responsible detecting” involves the loss of cultural and scientific knowledge, which is why not one of the last 20 French Ministres du Culture make Ed’s mistake. Hence, as HAPPAH ironically puts it, “a glorious export of the Anglo-Welsh regime in treasure hunting” won’t happen any time soon! Vive la France!

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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