Comment - Page 6

When Venice features in the media, the story is usually about the malign consequences of flooding, cruise ships, and tourism, which crowds out more positive news, like the development of the Venice Time Machine, due to be showcased at this year’s European Association of Archaeologists conference in Rome.

Recently showing at arts cinemas around the UK is a documentary called Wilding, which tells the story of how Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell decided in 2001 to let nature take its course on their 1,400ha estate at Knepp in West Sussex, abandoning the conventional farming practices of soaking the land in herbicides, insecticides, and fertiliser in order to grow loss-making crops

As part of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, one of the last acts of the outgoing government was to authorise Historic England to extend the blue plaques scheme to the whole of England.

A new organisation has come into being in Wales, in a bold move designed to increase the capacity of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts (WATs) to compete for major developer-funded contracts, while building on their reputation for specialist regional expertise and service delivery.