It is still just about possible, even this deep into the seemingly never-ending silly season that’s been running since about 2014, for a news story to take your breath away. Last week it was revealed that the curators of Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum have removed from display the mummified remains of the Egyptian priest Nekht, among other bits and bobs, because of an ‘absence of consent’. Presumably they are waiting for time travel to be invented, so that somebody can nip back 4,000 years and get Nekht to fill out the appropriate forms.

Under my scheme, the crank ideas of early 21st century academics will be kicked out of public life

Under my scheme, the crank ideas of early 21st century academics will be kicked out of public life

Glasgow Life, the silly organisation responsible, told journalists that ‘The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations 2025 report, “Laying Ancestors to Rest”, raises ethical concerns about the display of ancient Egyptian human remains due to the consistent disregard of the potential wishes of the ancestors and the intention of the communities that originally laid them to rest’. It adds also that they are merely........

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