Good Intentions Gone Astray

A nice American lady has lost all future chances of working in a managerial capacity at a British museum, and probably need not apply for the less exalted positions either. Having purchased a Mexican vase at a thrift store, she discovered that it was an ancient Mayan artifact dating back at least twelve hundred years, and subsequently compounded her indiscretion of buying rather than stealing by returning the object to Mexico. The weekend editor of the US arm of Britain's leading liberal newspaper points out that the vase dates from the peak of Mayan civilisation, and notes the civilisation's subsequent decline owing to climate change, in-fighting and white Christian genocide. Fortunately, these were merely "among other factors," so any lessons to be learned are no doubt as convenient as ever.