From a recent Oxford County Council meeting:

  • Transport cabinet member Yvonne Constance said councillor Mike Tysoe’s proposal to divert traffic past the ancient site was “doable”.
  • Speaking after the meeting, Mr Tysoe said: “Would our Neolithic ancestors mind too much if we save future generations? I don’t think it will basically damage the site. I’ve been told it probably won’t or there are ways of ensuring that any damage doesn’t happen.”
  • George Lambrick, chairman of the Rollright Trust, said such a scheme would be “bonkers” and would “trash” a “key landmark”.

Mr Tysoe’s suggestion that our Neolithic ancestors wouldn’t mind too much is factually true since they are indeed dead, but morally vacuous for the implication is that nothing from the past needs preserving as the people from the past are all dead!

His remark has the saving grace that it was spoken out of pure ignorance. There is no such excuse for English Heritage, Historic England and The National Trust who are campaigning to wreck the Stonehenge landscape for a road scheme.

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” Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me, those have always
been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James