Like many on here I've been an NT member for more than 45 years and for the last 20 years a Life Member (so they've already got my money!). Managing the Covid safeguarding situation is a tricky one and is bound to disappoint many - not least the ability to drop in on spec at a property when travelling.However, the latest politicization of the Trust's activities is intolerable and indefensible, in addition to the giving up of smaller properties and the 'popularization' of others. Tranmer House at Sutton Hoo has already been redesigned and it is now a sterile, dull space and a truly dreadful experience to visit. This is just one example. The powers-that-be at the NT should remember the second word of its name - Trust - which means that they hold in trust, for future generations, these properties that are so much a part of our heritage. As for the 'woke' agenda: slavery is intolerable, to be sure, but it has been the way of life in many countries at many periods in history - Britons were Roman slaves once!Hopefully we now know better. But we commemorate most of our heroes for other reasons - defending our country, reforming the way we live (including abolishing slavery!), designing fine houses, painting wonderful pictures, writing great literature and poems. Is all this to be erased just because they lived in a particular era? Octavia Hill and Canon Rawnsley must be spinning in their graves!Finally, although we may agree that black lives (and all lives) matter, BLM is an avowedly Marxist organization intent on disrupting the democratic order of things (see its website!). Why are so many people and organizations kowtowing to its demands to erase our history and culture (and giving it vast amounts of money)?Neil Oliver said in a recent article in Radio Times, in connection with pulling down statues, etc., that (I'm paraphrasing) all generations think they're right, but over time they are usually proved wrong.
