[slab_happy]

Last year, the National Trust committed the terrible crime of publishing a report on the links between some of its properties, slavery and colonialism, because, you know, those links exist and are part of the historical context.

This caused much upset in predictable circles (strangely, the people who think pulling down statues is "erasing history" are also very opposed to, er, presenting information on history) so now a bunch of wankers are attempting a coup:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/13/national-trust-warns-of-threat-from-ideological-campaign-waged-against-it

One of their favoured candidates is this charmer:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/5388626.stm

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/meet-stephen-green-right-wing-christian-voice-leader-who-went-homophobic-tirade-against-stephen-fry-and-benedict-cumberbatch-10039270.html

His "why you should vote for me" section in the AGM leaflet is entirely about how much he hates the Trust's acknowledgement of LGBTQ+ issues (or LGBTQ+ people having existed ever). Entirely. Paragraph and paragraphs.

If you're a National Trust member, you can vote online (deadline 11.59pm on the 22nd Oct) -- all you need is your membership number: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/annual-general-meeting

Information on the candidates endorsed by the Restore Trust (though at least one of them appears to have been endorsed against his will and says he supports the slavery/colonialism report):

https://twitter.com/SLevelt/status/1444568195646566403

[mrjonathanr]

Cheers for the nudge. Had seen the issue but I’ll make sure to vote.

I particularly liked his justification for harassing the Cardiff Mardi Gras attendees

It is important that Christians should be able to stand up for the Gospel and resist any attempt by the police to trample our civil rights

Victimhood just looks so much better when you’re the actual aggressor, wouldn’t you agree?

[andy popp]

Last year, the National Trust committed the terrible crime of publishing a report on the links between some of its properties, slavery and colonialism, because, you know, those links exist and are part of the historical context.

Thanks for raising this slab_happy. I was a member for many years but no longer am, for obvious reasons. The treatment handed out to Corinne Fowler and others involved in the report was horrific, from both some sections of the press and some members of the press.

More generally, over the last couple of years it's becoming blindingly obvious that Britain is still not able or ready to have a meaningful conversation about its history.

[ali k]

Unrelated to this but my parents have just cancelled their NT memberships after their cycling group were recently told all of the non-members (which was over half of them) would have to pay full entry fee just to use the cafe at a place they’ve been stopping at mid ride for years. The reason given was that the NT had lost money during Covid which they now had to recoup. Seems like a pretty counterproductive new policy though. Not only did they miss out on about £100 from lunch that day but they’ve now lost at least two membership fees (plus others from the group who said they were also going to cancel) and thousands of pounds in cafe spend each year from that group alone.

[seankenny]

It’s not even able to have a meaningful conversation about its present, let alone its past!

[slab_happy]

Cheers for the nudge. Had seen the issue but I’ll make sure to vote.

I particularly liked his justification for harassing the Cardiff Mardi Gras attendees

It is important that Christians should be able to stand up for the Gospel and resist any attempt by the police to trample our civil rights

Victimhood just looks so much better when you’re the actual aggressor, wouldn’t you agree?

It's like the anti-vaxxers sticking yellow stars on themselves. Cosplaying oppression is only fun when you're not being oppressed in any significant way.

[mrjonathanr]

It's like the anti-vaxxers sticking yellow stars on themselves.

Does that actually happen?? 

[mrjonathanr]

That Green character is hilarious,  From his NT statement

I seek election to end … its promotion of fashionable ‘woke’ causes. Even as I was filling in the Council election forms, the Trust asked not just my sex but my ‘gender identity’ and my sexual orientation!….
The 2017 Felbrigg Hall affair, in which the Trust claimed the donor, the late Robert Ketton-Cremer, was homosexual, on no evidence, shows where this madness leads. I shall ensure that future donors feel safe from the Trust poring over their past and inventing salacious details of an imagined private life.

Sure seems to have quite an interest in the subject.

[slab_happy]

It's like the anti-vaxxers sticking yellow stars on themselves.

Does that actually happen?? 

Oh yes:

https://twitter.com/RMTiede/status/1398420988061179910
https://twitter.com/Lollardfish/status/1386014415435091972

The Auschwitz Museum has some opinions about this:

https://twitter.com/AuschwitzMuseum/status/1386035293933998083

[mrjonathanr]

Wow. ‘Moral and intellectual decline’ sums it up. Makes me a bit cross, tbh

[andy popp]

Just saying ...

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/16/racist-attack-on-english-heritage-exhibition-celebrating-black-lives

[teestub]

Thanks for the nudge. For ref there's a list of the Trust's proposed picks on the voting launch page, so you don't have to work out who the most appropriate people to vote for are.

[Duma]

Thanks for the links and prod slab, voted.

[thekettle]

Thanks for the heads-up, I'm only a member for the parking in the Lakes, that was some eye-opening reading 
Now voted 

[slab_happy]

Yeah, I think there are loads of people who have membership for practical reasons but normally have minimal interest in th internal goings-on of the Trust; apparently only 0.5% percentage of members vote at the AGM.

But as a result, there's the potential for a small group -- who apparently have a shit-tonne of money to pour into social media advertising -- to try to hijack the process and get someone like Stephen Green onto the council, even though most members probably wouldn't support him (if they even knew this was going on; I only found out because of newspaper articles).

[nai]

While you're about it you could also vote to ban fox hunting on NT land.

https://www.keeptheban.uk/post/breaking-voting-opens-to-ban-hunting-on-national-trust-land

[Duma]

Indeed. In fact I'm mildly optimistic that the publicity around this will mean in backfires spectacularly in the bigots faces, and the hunting wankers will be banned as a bonus.

[Johnny Brown]

Thanks for the heads-up, I'm only a member for the parking in the Lakes

Yeah, I think there are loads of people who have membership for practical reasons but normally have minimal interest in the internal goings-on of the Trust; apparently only 0.5% percentage of members vote at the AGM.

Unrelated to this but my parents have just cancelled their NT memberships after their cycling group were recently told all of the non-members (which was over half of them) would have to pay full entry fee just to use the cafe at a place they’ve been stopping at mid ride for years.

There are huge numbers of people who support the NT's excellent work on coast on countryside but have no interest in visiting the Country House Jane Austen theme park side of it. I've never joined for this reason - I've no interest in the fancies of the Edwardian super-rich whether or not the gains were ill-gotten (and they mostly were). For years the BMC access team have been campaigning for them to introduce a Coast and Countryside membership. They did trial it in Cornwall apparently but dropped it due to the impression that it was just a parking ticket. I'm not really sure that is such an issue or one that couldn't be easily addressed, but they seem unwilling to revisit the issue soon, shame. It would undoubtedly increase overall membership but I can only assume the houses eat all the money and they have intel that a large section of their membership have no interest in them.

[Johnny Brown]

Members should also consider taking the opportunity to vote against Hunting with Dogs on NT land:

https://www.keeptheban.uk/post/breaking-voting-opens-to-ban-hunting-on-national-trust-land

[slab_happy]

Apparently Stephen Green lost by a terrifyingly-narrow margin of 838 votes:

https://twitter.com/greenbenali/status/1455130685501497346

So, well done everyone who voted NOT for him!

[Potash]

That is clearly the difficulty of voting in an election where there are a whole range of reasonable people and one cunt.

All the cunts vote for the cunt whilst all the reasonable people split their votes between the thirty odd reasonable candidates.

I voted for the NT recommended candidates simply because I did not want Stephen Green elected.

[slab_happy]

The twats are still at it:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/31/right-wing-group-target-national-trust-council-over-rewilding-and-lgbt-stance

[andy popp]

Restore Trust are not to be trusted! My polite plea to any member would be to not vote for any RT backed candidate.

[teestub]

Unfortunately it would appear the online voting has already closed this year. Unsurprising to see that Restore Trust is linked to a certain Tufton Street address, along with most of the other shit things happening in our country.

[andy popp]

Unfortunately it would appear the online voting has already closed this year. Unsurprising to see that Restore Trust is linked to a certain Tufton Street address, along with most of the other shit things happening in our country.

Yeah, RT are very pretty opaque about funding etc. Same with History Reclaimed (with which there is a lot of overlap in terms of personnel etc.).