24th April 2007, 03:35 PM
Well that is certainly one point of view. The other is, of course, that British society is multicultural and outward-looking, and the BM reflects the history of the development of our modern nation-state.
Of course if we send everything "back" to where it came from (echoes there of Enoch Powell, surely?) as the various devils' advocates have suggested, then it would be entirely reasonable to expect the return to our shores of, for example, the 450 English Paintings from the Hermitage in Russia (http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/0...3_1_6.html). Are we grateful to the Russians for paying the electricity bills, protecting them from the Nazis and paying for restoration of 'our' works of art? Not to mention all the rest of 'our' stuff in the Louvre, the Deutsches-Museum and so on.
Another case of swings, roundabouts and BAJR red herrings.
Of course if we send everything "back" to where it came from (echoes there of Enoch Powell, surely?) as the various devils' advocates have suggested, then it would be entirely reasonable to expect the return to our shores of, for example, the 450 English Paintings from the Hermitage in Russia (http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/0...3_1_6.html). Are we grateful to the Russians for paying the electricity bills, protecting them from the Nazis and paying for restoration of 'our' works of art? Not to mention all the rest of 'our' stuff in the Louvre, the Deutsches-Museum and so on.
Another case of swings, roundabouts and BAJR red herrings.