Is this a bad time to remind everyone that the ‘Great’ in Gt Britain doesn’t actually refer to ‘greatness’ but rather to its greater size/area compared to Brittany?

It is? I’ll get my coat then. In seriousness, I’m sure Elly and crew are looking into the specifics of the situation. They need us to write the letters, make the calls, and generally make nuisances of ourselves to those that can make the difference.

I’ve been known to commence the occasional grossly misproportioned Spitfire in my margin, and they never get any better. And that’s with a ‘life model’ zooming about outside. It’s those wings…

as long as they are behind the instrument glass i understand they are relatively safe – BUT if the glass is cracked and the paint is flaky can cause probs…

Handle them carefully and keep em behind glass!

Cracked glass and flaky paint are indeed visual cues that if you hang on to the object you have every change of becoming a candidate for the Darwin Awards, but the glass does not protect you from the emitted radiation. Best to ask the experts (see below). You absolutely must do so if the item is an open source (the aforementioned missing or cracked glass).

National Radiological Protection Board
Chilton
Didcot
Oxon
OX11 0RQ
Telephone: 01235 831600
Fax: 01235 833891
http://www.nrpb.org/ (A great deal of information to be found here)

Society for Radiological Protection
76 Portland Place
London
W1B 1NT
Telephone: 01364 644487
Fax: 01364 644492
Email: [email]admin@srp-uk.org[/email]

Radiation Protection Special Interest Group
http://www.ipem.org.uk/sigs/rpsig/radprot.html

The Environment Agency (re disposal)
Telephone: 08708 506 506
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Best to get them checked out with a Geiger counter.

To deny access to the BoB museum is DISGUSTING, hope you complained Anna

Anna states in the first post that this was for filming to take place. Unless you would suggest the museum not accept film crews and thereby deny a source of funding and PR, this must simply be put down to bad luck. I find a call in advance avoids disappointment in any museum visit.

Get rid of plastic crap!!! Anna 😉

I’m not sure of your particular complaint, but perhaps some sort of industrial solvent/Ex-Lax mixture would help?

Here’s what’s on at IWML: http://london.iwm.org.uk/ in case any of the temporary exhibitions take your fancy. I may be biased, but I think it’s worth the visit for the veteran Camel and Spit MkIa. And the Holocaust exhibition of course 🙁

I hear you, but it really shouldn’t be any more ‘special’ simply because of the connection with servicemen/women. If museums look after every last thing to the same standards, there can be no situation in which they are forced to prepare the guest room for Mr Cockup…

The National Trust thing is interesting, but with the concept of ‘access for all’ there’s only so much you can do. Even on a basic level people need to find their way to things, and even in the days of hardcopy museum catalogues (and nowt else) you have situations during/after the Middle East conflicts where thieves use the museum guide book to target the most valuable artefacts.