Cash in What Remains Behind

Even in matters merely cultural, patriotic pride has its uses; but the great British nation has rarely allowed sentiment to cloud its entrepreneurial instincts. National museums are sponsored by fossil fuel profiteers; sites charge fees for allowing the public access to its own heritage; and places of historic interest can be kept open only on condition that there is a financial interest to balance things out. The latest beneficiary of this happy trend is William Wordsworth, whose heirs are passing the begging-bowl around to try and preserve his house and gardens. There is scant prospect of Government help: in the unlikely event that literature meant more to Team Starmer than a convenient source of AI-feed, Wordsworth was at one point a sympathiser with French republicanism and seems to have dedicated much of his Kindle content to nature rather than to economic growth. Even his later acceptance of the Poet Laureate sinecure from a Conservative prime minister who gave his name to the British bobby seems hardly enough atonement for such a liberty.