"In the UK, Who goes Metal Detecting?"

ONR March, Poland April 2016

On a metal detecting forum near you - associated with a certain metal detector producer - member "Iron Hearted Gog" has started a "Brexit: in or Out?" poll. The results were entirely predictable to anybody who'd been noting the xenophobic attitudes on UK metal detecting forums:

The comments attached to the poll are mostly of the sort that would be familiar to the people shown marching at the top of this post. The degree to which crude nationalism has been spreading in European society over the past few years is disturbing. What is very clear also is the way these nationalisms link to issues such as (a particular interpretation of) heritage [cultural heritage/ ahnenerbe] and a particular interpretation of history. Given that, it seems to me that the current policies of entrusting the exploitation of the archaeological record as a form of creating personal histories does not need looking at from the angle of the relationship between artefact collecting and nationalism. How many black or Asian members are there in the metal detecting clubs of England and Wales? Can the PAS give an estimate based on their club visits?