News From The Front Line In The UK Culture Wars -- Save Our Statues Campaign Update

On this week's #NCFCounterCulture we provide an update on the "Save Our Statues" campaign, which was launched during the summer of Black Lives Matter attacks on historic British statues. Topics discussed include various official "audits" of collections in order to identify individuals with alleged links to slavery and the slave trade, however tenuous or risible these might be. These range from the Welsh Government's survey of historic statues to the British Library's review of figures including such unlikely -- and implausible -- characters such as Oscar Wilde, George Orwell and the poet Ted Hughes. In London it has been revealed that Sadiq Khan's commission on statues etc. has already cost £250,000. This means that Londoners are footing the bill for these politicized reviews. On the positive side: The National Trust has had a huge decline in revenue due to collapse in both new and renewing memberships. The National Trust's review was also criticized by the head of the Charity Commission, who said that charitable organisations should not involve themselves in such divisive issues. The application to remove the listed statues of Thomas Guy & Sir Robert Clayton at, respectively, Guy's & St. Thomas's Hospital have been removed following receipt of some 600 public complaints (due in part to the campaigning of Save Our Statues). Government ministers have been speaking a bit more vocally and positively on these cultural issues. What we need to see now is some form of legislation or other means of formal protection. The panel: Peter Whittle, Founder & Chairman of Save Our Statues Richard Bingley, General Secretary of S.O.S. Robert Poll, Online & Social Media Coordinator for S.O.S. Emma Webb from Civitas, Executive Member of S.O.S. --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe