Conservative Conservation
I’m sat in a oak-panelled room. The floor is wooden, the ceiling is decorated with plaster mouldings – ceiling roses, cornices and covings – that show that this is a room where the decoration is restrained not because of matters of cost but because of matters of taste. On the walls paintings of be-robed academics gaze down on the crowd as it filters in and slowly raises the volume from a quiet hush to a vibrant chatter.