Following recent publicity about his advert campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures [1], Stelios Hadji-Ioannou appears dis-satisfied with the way things are progressing. Whilst there are issues for both sides over whatever sort of deal might be reached though, I very much doubt that Stelios has given up on the issue yet. This seems more like wishful thinking on the part of the Telegraph, a paper who have (with a few notable exceptions [2]) generally come out as strongly against reunification of the Elgin Marbles [3] whenever the issue has been raised.
From:
Daily Telegraph [4]
Gordon Brown won’t holiday in Cliff Richard’s Barbados villa
By Tim Walker
Last Updated: 8:54PM BST 04/07/2008[…]
A game of Elgin Marbles
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou appears to have conceded defeat in his battle to return the Elgin Marbles to Athens.
“The Greeks don’t seem to understand that the marbles are not owned by the British Government but by a trust,” the founder of easyJet told Mandrake at The Spectator summer party.
“The best bet might be if the British Museum were to lend the marbles to Greece, but this would cause howls of protest from Greek politicians who would accuse the Greek government of betraying Greece by ‘giving in’.”[…]