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Rick Rylance, Secretary of the Council for College and University English

Last week in The THES

Diane Purkiss suggested we needed a British version of the Modern Language Association

The Council for College and University English is now in dicussions with Elaine Showalter, president of the Modern Language Association, about connections. There is nothing definite on the table, but we are discussing common interests. There seems to be enthusiasm on both sides. We put the issue to CCUE membership at our annual meeting in November, and there is, in principle, support for more links. We are invited over in February or March to talk about it further.

David Gill, Senior lecturer in ancient history, University of Wales, Swansea

Last week in The THES

George McKay said museums should hand back looted artefacts

George McKay has missed the real issue about the display of antiquities. The settings for the Elgin marbles in 5th-century BC Athens are known. However, the rise of looting to provide antiquities for the market is having material and intellectual consequences for the study of ancient societies and cultures. Eighty-five per cent of the funerary record of the Early Bronze Age Greek Cyclades may have been lost through illicit excavation, which leaves the female marble figures so prized by collectors and museums devoid of context and therefore no longer interpretable by archaeologists.