This article is not directly relevant, except that it reveals that the Parthenon Sculptures were one of the search terms monitored by the government. This shows that despite statements that it is entirely the responsibility of the British Museum, the government still feels that they also need to monitor the issue – meaning that it is on their radar if nothing else.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Government spends £16 million on spin
More than £16 million of taxpayers’ cash was spent in the last three years on keeping track of news items relating to the work of Government departments and quangos.
By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:43AM GMT 24 Dec 2008

The Conservatives accused Gordon Brown and his ministers of being obsessed with spin, after new figures revealed the scale of the budget for “media monitoring”.

Statistics obtained by the party in a series of Parliamentary answers show that Whitehall departments and taxpayer-funded quangos and agencies have paid private consultancies at least £13 million to monitor news coverage since 2005.
Read the rest of this entry »