Give the Parthenon marbles back to Greece – tech advances mean there are no more excuses | Simon Jenkins

Artefacts can now be replicated with microscopic accuracy. Will the British Museum, and our prime minister, see sense?

One day a British government will return the Parthenon marbles to Athens. The only question is: who will obtain Greece’s undying credit and thanks?

The obvious candidate was surely Boris Johnson. In 1986, the classics scholar invited the Greek culture minister Melina Mercouri to speak at Oxford University, pledging to help her restore the Parthenon’s glory. Yet this week it became...