George could save some real monuments

AT A north London dinner party the other evening the subject came up of the IS destruction of Palmyra. Locals are trying to hide the artefacts to protect them from the barbarians. Over here, the British Museum and the V&A are linking with archaeologists and academics around the world to find a way of saving them.

Like many other tourists I have looked at classical ruins in Syria with joy. Surely we all have a responsibility towards them now. The dinner party debate is being rehearsed across London: when human beings are suffering terribly in these regions, is it wrong to mind so much about the buildings? We did not intervene to save the Syrian people from President Assad, must we now go in to save ruins from IS terrorists?

The defence is that the buildings are the sum of human achievement. IS represents the primitive forces that threaten us. This really is a battle of civilisation. The politics is pure fog. Should we negotiate with Assad, even while many predict he will soon be seeking asylum in Tehran? Do we include IS in power-sharing talks?

Let us at least negotiate with everyone, including Iran, to save the monuments. Now that Amal Clooney and her loyal husband, George, are no longer working for the Greek government to retrieve the Elgin Marbles they could take up a more urgent cause. Let art imitate art. We need Clooney, the star of The Monuments Men, to save Palmyra.