National News Hadrian's Wall Sycamore Gap - Vandalism

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Marked Ox

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news.sky.com

Sycamore Gap: Boy, 16, arrested after iconic tree at Hadrian's Wall 'deliberately felled'

The tree, which is one of the UK's most photographed, was made famous after it featured in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. One man who proposed under it said he chose the place so he could revisit one day with his family.
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Utter scum who did this. The problem is the scrote who did it won't get much punishment even if found guilty as it is still only vandalism.
 
Marked Ox said:
news.sky.com

Sycamore Gap: Boy, 16, arrested after iconic tree at Hadrian's Wall 'deliberately felled'

The tree, which is one of the UK's most photographed, was made famous after it featured in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. One man who proposed under it said he chose the place so he could revisit one day with his family.
news.sky.com news.sky.com

Utter scum who did this. The problem is the scrote who did it won't get much punishment even if found guilty as it is still only vandalism.
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Scum? w****r more like….
 
FoSB will claim he’s an Oxford fan.

I hope his name gets released and the locals give him maximum grief.
 
Apparently his parents are tree huggers and the young man felt neglected.
 
I am aware im out of step with public opinion but I've found the public outcry around this to be genuinely insane.

It is one tree. The same people raging and calling this kid scum for felling a single tree were, I presume, trenchant campaigners against hs2 which destroyed many ancient woodlands, or campaign heavily against the deforestation of the amazon, or wouldn't want a tree felled in the building of the stadium. I just don't get why we have decided to care about this one above others.
 
Mojofilter said:
I am aware im out of step with public opinion but I've found the public outcry around this to be genuinely insane.

It is one tree. The same people raging and calling this kid scum for felling a single tree were, I presume, trenchant campaigners against hs2 which destroyed many ancient woodlands, or campaign heavily against the deforestation of the amazon, or wouldn't want a tree felled in the building of the stadium. I just don't get why we have decided to care about this one above others.
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Are those other acts you describe wanton vandalism?

Your other examples are somewhat general as well. HS2 could have mitigated around ancient woodlands far better, illegal logging in the Amazon needs to be stopped/reversed and the club are planning to mitigate by planting new trees to replace those cut down.

Do you campaign heavily against everything you get upset/angry about? Why does it have to be all or nothing?

I've planted trees in the past, doesn't mean I want the Forestry Commission shutdown for cutting trees down.

This tree is symbolic of many people's memories such as the chap who proposed there and wanted it to be a placed they and any kids returned to.
 
Marked Ox said:
Are those other acts you describe wanton vandalism?
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I disagree with the stance that if something is done for profit then it is okay. This was done for a lark but i don't know why thats worse, particularly when it was just one tree not hundreds.

And yes, people may have a sentimental attachment to it but for my money that doesn't explain the hysteria over it all
 
Mojofilter said:
I disagree with the stance that if something is done for profit then it is okay. This was done for a lark but i don't know why thats worse, particularly when it was just one tree not hundreds.

And yes, people may have a sentimental attachment to it but for my money that doesn't explain the hysteria over it all
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and that's why you can't have nice things.

A friend of mine did a charity hike for GOSH and took lots of photos of that particular tree which she shared on FB yesterday, so it's a shame some a*hole has to spoil it for everyone.

A few years ago Scouts of America leaders decided to "make safe" a famous balancing rock in the desert by levering it off using a car jack. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/31/us/utah-boulder-boy-scouts/index.html
 
Spookily this is my current book….
 

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Mojofilter said:
I disagree with the stance that if something is done for profit then it is okay. This was done for a lark but i don't know why thats worse, particularly when it was just one tree not hundreds.

And yes, people may have a sentimental attachment to it but for my money that doesn't explain the hysteria over it all
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I haven't said that if something is done for profit it is ok, hence my comments on the Amazon and HS2/the stadium with mitigation/planting more than being knocked down etc. Is the person who cut down the Sycamore planning to do that? I very much doubt it.

This is a landmark tree for an iconic UK landmark with all the memories/symbolism attached for many people hence the reaction.
 
It was pre-meditated vandalism. It wasn’t done as part of some ”benefit“ to the general public.
 
Mojofilter said:
I am aware im out of step with public opinion but I've found the public outcry around this to be genuinely insane.

It is one tree. The same people raging and calling this kid scum for felling a single tree were, I presume, trenchant campaigners against hs2 which destroyed many ancient woodlands, or campaign heavily against the deforestation of the amazon, or wouldn't want a tree felled in the building of the stadium. I just don't get why we have decided to care about this one above others.
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Whilst I absolutely think cutting down this tree is a dickhead manoeuvre, it is also a case of the symbolic / romantic nature of something driving the public outcry. Similar to The Crooked House arson. Pubs are driven into the ground and closed deliberately by pub companies and rogue landlords on an almost daily basis. Many of these pubs that no longer exist will have been better used and more community orientated than The Crooked House ever was. But because they aren't as unique as this crooked pub and turning them into flats isn't as dramatic as them being burned down and they aren't given any coverage outside the local press, despite some of them (like the tree) having existed for hundreds of years.

This coverage isn't always a bad thing, as these incidents can draw attention to the wider issues. But rather than spending millions on rebuilding an individual pub or replacing a tree with a sculpture, we would be better off putting in place measures to protect other trees and buildings that may be under threat and increasing the (financial?) penalties for people or companies who destroy things deliberately.
 
Lost Marbles said:
we would be better off putting in place measures to protect other trees and buildings that may be under threat and increasing the (financial?) penalties for people or companies who destroy things deliberately.
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Like Ka$$am and the Priory, as another example.
 
Symbols are important to people, and as nature gets more constrained by human activity, natural symbols are more important. On a bus tour of Hokkaido a couple of years ago we got to see some individual trees that were massively famous because they had appeared in adverts. I thought it was a bit weird, but the locals in the bus were ecstatic.
Comparing this sycamore tree with the generic issues of deforestation is not quite right. Removal of one tree means literally nothing for the environment, but clearly symbolises a lot for people. You don’t weigh the murder of John Lennon against the Rwandan genocide.
I think a lot of people understand the motivation behind vandalism, but I wish this 16 year old had taken a bit of a pause before turning their “f**k you” idea into a reality.
 
Maybe it was art? A metaphor for what the tories are doing to the country.
 
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