The power of culture

ATHENA watches in amazement at the current conduct of Brexit. Not only do our politicians seem completely paralysed by the challenges it presents, but the whole focus of their discussion upon economics and free movement seems unhelpfully narrow. If we should have learnt anything from the momentous events of the past year, it’s that quantified data—what might be termed the culture of the spreadsheet— is only part of every story.

To a quite striking degree, we need to understand the limitations of our statistics and recognise that, in terms of governmental policy, what’s off the spreadsheet can be quite as important as what’s on it.

In this regard, Athena can’t help wondering if the Government has entirely forgotten about the role of heritage, both at home and in our relations with the world? Is there any-