Good morning.
More than 150 years after they were “stolen in violent circumstances” by British soldiers, two top UK museums are returning some of Ghana’s “crown jewels”.
The items, which have been described as part of the “national soul” of Ghana, are being loaned – rather than given back – because a UK law bans national museums from “deaccessioning” items in their collections.
However, experts hope that the three-year loan of the 32 pieces of Asante gold by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, will spark national and international debate about the rightful return of artefacts with cultural and religious significance to their countries of origin.
The Asante gold agreement, reached after the current Asante king Otumfuo Osei Tutu II met King Charles, will be watched closely in Athens, which is seeking the return of the Parthenon marbles, and Nigeria, which has long campaigned for the Benin bronzes to be given back.
Dan Hicks, a professor of contemporary archaeology at Oxford University, said the deal over the Asante gold is the “very welcome beginning of a process that will hopefully lead to the rightful return of important items to their rightful owners”. But, it’s unlikely to be a quick or simple process. More from Hicks, after the headlines.
Five big stories
Middle East | Israeli officials are bracing for an expected interim ruling from the international court of justice on South Africa’s allegation that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against Palestinians, an emergency measure that could expose Israel to international sanctions.
Immigration | The UK would break international law if it ignored emergency orders from the European court of human rights to stop asylum seekers being flown to Rwanda, the head of the court has said.
UK news | The mother of one of three Nottingham stabbing victims has said “true justice has not been served” after killer Valdo Calocane was sentenced to indefinite detention in a high-security hospital.
US news | Alabama has carried out the first execution of a death row inmate in the US using nitrogen gas, an untested procedure which the prisoner’s lawyers had argued amounted to a form of cruel and unusual punishment banned under the US constitution.
Politics | David Cameron breached “proper process” when he appointed Michelle Mone to the House of Lords in 2015, David Mundell, who was the Scotland secretary at the time, has said.
In depth: ‘They are doing everything they can to give the items back while technically staying within the law’
“They’re not just objects,” Nana Oforiatta Ayim, a special adviser to Ghana’s culture minister, said of the artefacts, which include a sword of state and gold Akrafokonmu badges worn by officials charged with cleansing the soul of the king. “They have spiritual importance as well. They are part of the soul of the nation. It’s pieces of ourselves returning.”
Ayim said loan of the items to Ghana was a “good starting point” and a “sign of some kind of healing and commemoration for the violence that happened”. They will go on display at Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the capital of the Asante region, in time for Osei Tutu II’s silver jubilee celebrations in April 2024.
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Why just a loan?
The items – 15 from the British Museum and 17 from the V&A – will only be on display in Manhyia Palace for three years (with an option to be extended for a further three years). This is because the British Museum Act 1963 and the National Heritage Act 1983 prevent the trustees of major UK museums from permanently handing back contested treasures in their collections.
“Everyone in the museum community obviously welcomes that there is finally movement in returning these items,” Hicks says. But this doesn’t mean that in other cases – like the Parthenon marbles and the Benin bronzes – loans will prove to be the answer, rather than permanently and unconditionally giving back stolen goods.
It’s not enough for many people in Ghana, who have taken to social media and local radio to complain that the deal is akin to a thief agreeing to loan back stolen goods.
“A burglar raids your home and steals your valuables. You managed to track down the burglar and they grudgingly agree to ‘loan’ them back to you. That sounds crazy doesn’t it?” Lorraine King, a presenter on Colourful Radio in the UK posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Well the UK will loan Ghana the crown jewels they stole from them 150 years ago.”
Ayim acknowledges that people are angry at the idea of a loan, but said it was hoped that it would be the first step in a journey that would lead to their permanent return. “We know the objects were stolen in violent circumstances, we know the items belong to the Asante people.”
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The British Museum or the Brutish Museum?
Hicks says his reading of the deal is the that “they [the British Museum and the V&A] are doing everything they can to give the items back whilst technically staying within the law.”
“We [the UK] are out of step with other countries who are giving back artefacts looted by colonialists, France and Germany have joined forces to look into how to return items from their national museums, and the Smithsonian in Washington has given back 29 Benin bronzes to Nigeria.”
While national museums are prevented from returning artefacts, Benin bronzes held in private UK museums, including those of the University of Cambridge, have been returned.
Hicks, who recently published The Brutish Museums: The Benin bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution, says the government’s refusal to change the law to allow national museums to return looted artefacts is out of step with the views of most of the UK public and the directors of the museums. (The Labour party has not expressed interest in changing the law, but Keir Starmer has indicated that he would support loaning the Parthenon marbles to Athens.)
“There will be some in government who view this loan agreement as a stopgap that will resolve the debate for now,” Hicks says. “But I sense it will do the opposite, it will draw attention to the issue and have the public asking what is ethically right?
“The next logical questions are: When will the law be changed, and when will these important items be properly returned to their rightful owners?”
What else we’ve been reading
Rokhaya Diallo pays tribute to Angela Davis, the veteran American philosopher, writer, activist, feminist icon and symbol of Black liberation struggles, after a French school named after her was renamed. Clare Longrigg, acting head of newsletters
A win for satellites. Four previously unknown emperor penguin colonies have been discovered in Antarctica after their guano (poo) was spotted from space. Adam Morton reports on research that lifts the number of known emperor penguin colonies to 66. “These newly identified locations fill in almost all the gaps in the known distribution of these iconic birds.” Rupert
DS Derek Ridgewell was one of the most corrupt officers in British history: a known racist who targeted black men, protected by the police establishment. Simon Hattenstone spoke to the families of men wrongfully convicted, who waited nearly 50 years for their loved ones to be cleared. Clare
Skiers are leaving nasty “forever chemicals” in the snow on ski slopes, according to a study reported by Helena Horton. The chemicals, which have been linked to cancers, are commonly used in ski wax and have been found in the soil of popular ski slopes. Rupert
Children are worrying about ageing, and buying expensive anti-wrinkle products they’ve seen on TikTok. Clea Skopeliti investigates this disturbing new trend. Clare
Sport
Tennis | Aryna Sabalenka held her nerve throughout a tense Australian Open semi-final, outplaying fourth seed Coco Gauff 7-6 (2), 6-4 to set up a final match against Zheng Qinwen of China.
Cricket | An England team imbued with sunny optimism these past two years will need it an abundance over the next seven weeks, after India took control in the first test in Hyderabad. England’s 246 all out from 64.3 overs after winning the toss – salvaged by a defiant 70 from Ben Stokes – did at least put them in the contest.
Football | Luis Rubiales should stand trial over the kiss he planted on the footballer Jenni Hermoso, a judge with Spain’s top criminal court has said, after a preliminary investigation in which he concluded that the former football chief’s gesture “was not consensual and was a unilateral and unexpected move”.
The front pages
The Guardian leads with “EU plan to stockpile drugs ‘will worsen UK shortages’”. The FT has “Court freezes Mone assets as crime agency investigates PPE fraud claims”. The i says “Labour’s tax trap: Starmer warned he must reverse Tory tax cuts or squeeze UK public services”.
The Times reports “Police chief has ‘blood on his hands’ over stabbings”, while the Telegraph follows the same story, quoting families of the victims of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane on its front page: “‘He has got away with murder’”. The Mirror looks at the same issue with the headline “They were failed”.
Finally, the Sun carries a story about Bill Roache, with the headline “Corrie Bill, 91 facing bankruptcy”.
Something for the weekend
Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read and listen to right now
TV
Griselda (Netflix)
The team behind Narcos, which told Pablo Escobar’s story, has seized the opportunity and run with it in the new six-part Netflix miniseries Griselda. It stars Sofía Vergara (above, who also executive produces) as the woman who would become a terrifying drug lord known as the Cocaine godmother. There isn’t a weak performance in it … a pulpy, stylish ride. It’s almost too entertaining, given the real-life suffering she caused. Lucy Mangan
Music
Future Islands: People Who Aren’t There Anymore
The synth-pop quartet’s heart-on-sleeve frontman, Samuel T Herring, is by turns lovelorn and lovestruck in the Baltimore band’s disorientating but affecting seventh LP. The band have opted to refine rather than radically overhaul their sound, and it’s tempting to say that if you’ve heard any of their seven albums, you’ll know what to expect here: metronomic rhythms, surging quiet-loud dynamics, a high bass sound indebted to Peter Hook, alternately glacial and shimmering synthesisers rooted in the band’s love of early 80s OMD that turn a little stadium rock towards the chorus, Herring’s distinctive vocals. Alexis Petridis
Film
All of Us Strangers (cinemas nationwide)
Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal and Claire Foy shine in the drama about a screenwriter who visits his childhood home to find his parents, who were killed in a car crash, still living there. Andrew Haigh’s has created a mysterious, beautiful and sentimental film- a fantasy-supernatural romance about loneliness and love. It concerns the climacteric of middle age when you realise you are probably nearer to death than birth. Peter Bradshaw
Podcast
Offstage: Inside The X Factor
BBC Sounds, all episodes out now
The heady days of early reality TV are always rich pickings, and as the 20th anniversary of The X Factor dawns, Chi Chi Izundu examines it through a distinctly 2024 lens. There’s solid access to show insiders and contestants who reveal the price they paid for a shot at fame – and, in some cases, how it was worth that risk. Hannah Verdier
Today in Focus
Michelle Mone and the PPE Medpro investigation
After the peer admitted to lying about her involvement in lucrative government PPE deals during the Covid crisis, the fate of her high-profile lingerie company raises further questions. David Conn reports.
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
A new “shoot-up” centre in Porto, where people can take drugs in a safe and clean environment, offers a rare ray of hope in the scourge of drug addiction. Three decades ago, heroin addiction in Portugal affected an estimated one in every 100 adults, and death by overdose or drug-related disease was commonplace.
In 1999, Portuguese lawmakers, motivated by a widespread belief that the “war on drugs” was failing, passed a radical piece of legislation decriminalising the acquisition, possession and private use of small amounts of drugs. Today, Portugal’s liberal stance on drug possession is saving lives, and has much to teach the rest of Europe.
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until Monday.
