Museums are not the proper home for our greatest works | Simon Jenkins

The permanent resting place for Stephenson’s Rocket should be a railway platform

What is the connection between an Ethiopian’s hair, a famous steam engine and a set of chess pieces? The answer is that all are topics of dispute in the murky world of museum politics. The hair was cut from the head of a dead emperor and brought to London by a victorious British general in 1868. Now in the army museum in Chelsea but regarded by Ethiopians as sacred, its return has long been requested by Addis Abab...