bye bye, Nimrud, bye bye

[Beef Oven!]

Would tourists still provide for UK plc if the Royal family were to be stuffed and exhibited in Madame Tussauds though?

Madame Tussauds is a waxworks museum, not a taxidermist's.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm not going there, but there is private money being spent to heat up some older listed property, because the bonkers people who police these things won't permit windows to modern standards to be fitted to replace old ones. I'm not talking about unique examples of rare houses or buildings, but buildings where there are many or at least a moderate number of buildings of similar type and vintage.

For unique examples I would perhaps side with the listings people.

Coming as we do under the aegis of the Dulwich College Estate we face this very problem over replacing our 1950s steel-framed Crittall windows with near-identical UPVC double-glazing under their scheme of management. And it's not even a listed building.

[jean]

...the bonkers people who police these things won't permit windows to modern standards to be fitted to replace old ones...

That is not strictly true. It is possible to have windows that conform to 'modern standards' of heat retention - it's just that they're not allowed to be made of UPVC.

And UPVC is an abomination, whatever the age of your house.

[Serial_Apologist]

Madame Tussauds is a waxworks museum, not a taxidermist's.

That's true.

[ahinton]

Never mind all this concern over ancient built artifacts. It is sure long overdue that all music dating from before 1908 is done away with, from wherever in the world it originates.

You mean Mahler 9 would be fine but Mahler 6 has to be dispensed with? Not sure what kind of world that would be other than one in which I'd not want to live...

[teamsaint]

You mean Mahler 9 would be fine but Mahler 6 has to be dispensed with? Not sure what kind of world that would be other than one in which I'd not want to live...

is DSCH Symphony #11 ok, then, in this new Year Zero world?

[Serial_Apologist]

When was Nimrod written?

1899 I believe.

[MrGongGong]

1899 I believe.

Excellent

I'm with Bryn

[french frank]

Might people in the UK be free to be more creative and responsive to the needs of the present day if less attention were paid to preserving our local heritage?

I wonder what sort of 'needs of the present day' would be better served if we pulled down, say, all the museums/art galleries, historic buildings, archaeological sites &c? I suppose we should also burn all the old books, ban all the old music, destroy the wheel …

[Serial_Apologist]

I wonder what sort of 'needs of the present day' would be better served if we pulled down, say, all the museums/art galleries, historic buildings, archaeological sites &c? I suppose we should also burn all the old books, ban all the old music, destroy the wheel …

I could see a certain argument in pointing out the receding benefits of dependence on foreign tourist trade for a fading culture or, in our case, the historical cachet of being primes inter alia in inaugurating the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, I am hoping that Honoured Guest is being ironic in citing ISIS's highlighting of any diminishing returns, whichever country is over-reliant on past repute.

I think the problem lies deeper - namely "our" inability to progress without constantly needing to check past examples. It speaks of an immature culture - one which always has to ask itself what mother would have done in such circumstances.

[Dave2002]

And UPVC is an abomination, whatever the age of your house.

Possibly, but it can be very effective, and houses are for living in, not for creating an endless series of maintenance jobs for others. Having lived in a house in the 1970s-1980s with wooden windows which needed continuous painting and rotten wood replaced, upgrading to UPVC double glazing was a major improvement, whatever your views on that might be. When we moved to another house, that did indeed have some Critall windows, which we immediately replaced, again with UPVC. The neighbours did replace their windows with hard wood, but I'm sure it would have cost more, and I'm not absolutely convinced that it's completely maintenance free. I'm afraid we have repeated this process in each house we have been in - replacing badly fitting or rotten windows with UPVC.

If you want to condemn people to live in cold and draughty houses, just go on preaching your message, or try to explain to people how they can afford to install windows which meet your aesthetic standards at a cost which they can afford.

For clarification, I assume you mean some form of plastic over an aluminium or other metal frame, when you refer to UPVC.

[Richard Tarleton]

I could see a certain argument in pointing out the receding benefits of dependence on foreign tourist trade for a fading culture or, in our case, the historical cachet of being primes inter alia in inaugurating the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, I am hoping that Honoured Guest is being ironic in citing ISIS's highlighting of any diminishing returns, whichever country is over-reliant on past repute.

Why "receding" and "fading", S_A? (other than in the sense of "getting older, which is not the same thing?)

HG seems to have left this discussion, but - just another fact, which may or may not be relevant - membership of the National Trust, an NGO which looks after a large slice of our historic built heritage (along with a goodly chunk of our natural environment) is currently in excess of 4 million, which is 8 times as many as all political parties combined. This may merely be proving HG's point, but I'd suggest it proves that heritage is important to a lot of people.

[Serial_Apologist]

Nevertheless, it does surprise one that double glazed window manufacturers have not yet to my knowledge managed to come up with more slender-designs, able to replicate the old streamlined steel-framed types. It is becoming ever more difficult to locate late 1930s semis with the curve-ended bays with a central V-motif in the fanlight that made such houses so attractive. Surely this shold be possible, rather than the angled, heavily mullioned types now to be seen everywhere.

[ahinton]

"Writing of Ronald (Stevenson) in Lewis Foreman's British Music Now (London 1977), Colin Scott-Sutherland quotes the (Hans) Kellerism that the artist of talent links the present with the future, but 'the truly great artist, the visionary, relates the future to the past'" - a Busonian ideal if ever there was one although what Busoni would have thought of the notion of heritage demolition I have no idea - or rather I have some idea...

[Richard Tarleton]

Nevertheless, it does surprise one that double glazed window manufacturers have not yet to my knowledge managed to come up with more slender-designs, able to replicate the old streamlined steel-framed types. It is becoming ever more difficult to locate late 1930s semis with the curve-ended bays with a central V-motif in the fanlight that made such houses so attractive. Surely this shold be possible, rather than the angled, heavily mullioned types now to be seen everywhere.

what about "receding" and "fading", S_A?