Sports News Part II

Welcome back. In part II:

Broken Glass

Another dangerous school sport involved propelling glass objects into one another. This was marbles, which I believe is even more internationally known than conkers. It is a game I remember playing much more often, especially with my sister. Often people played "for keeps", getting to keep the opponent's marbles that they won. Which leads me nicely to today's International Contest.

United Kingdom: 32    Greece: 0

I am, of course, I'm talking about the Elgin Marbles. In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin removed large chunks of marble friezes and sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens and flogged them to the British Government. The Greeks have been trying to get them back ever since. The issue is in the news at the moment, because they have just started transferring artefacts to the newly built Parthenon Museum in Athens, and would like to put the Elgin Marbles in there as well.

Referee!

The British Museum says that the marbles should stay where they are because (i) the Museum is a centre containing treasures from many different cultures under one roof, (ii) there's a law forbidding them from giving away their exhibits, even if it's later decided they were "stolen", and (iii) Ner Ner! We've got them so what are you going to do about it? (All right, they might not actually have said that last one...)

Crowds

On last night's news they did a vox pop. outside the Museum. A couple of people said the marbles should go back to Athens, but another Brit summed things up very eloquently: "They're better off here.", he said, "Not everyone can go all the way to Greece". Nicely put. It's a long way just to see some slabs of stone. And they speak funny, and don't know how to make decent fish and chips.