作为大英博物馆的主席，乔治·奥斯本是一名公职人员，有责任保持透明。他关于“我们没想到会有人知道”亿万富翁彼得·蒂尔私下参观贝叶挂毯的评论表明，他的忠诚更多地倾向于Palantir的创始人和杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的朋友，而非国家博物馆应有的开放性（乔治·奥斯本“以为彼得·蒂尔参观贝叶挂毯是秘密的”，9月19日）。
As the chair of the British Museum, George Osborne is a holder of public office with a duty to be transparent. His comment that “it wasn’t like we expected anyone to know” about the billionaire Peter Thiel’s private view of the Bayeux tapestry suggests his loyalties lie more with the founder of Palantir and friend of Jeffrey Epstein over the openness that a national museum should demonstrate (George Osborne ‘thought Peter Thiel’s Bayeux tapestry visit would be secret’, 19 September).
奥斯本随后声称，如果没有BP等不道德的企业赞助商，博物馆将关闭。事实上，就在几周前，伦敦科学博物馆结束了与BP长达数十年的合作，加入了泰特美术馆、国家肖像馆等机构的行列。去年，博物馆协会91%的成员还批准了一项新的道德准则，其中规定博物馆应“过渡远离与 environmental harm（包括化石燃料）、[和]侵犯人权有关的组织的赞助”。
Osborne then made the claim that the museum would shut down without unethical corporate sponsors such as BP. In fact, just a few weeks ago London’s Science Museum ended its decades-long partnership with BP, joining Tate, the National Portrait Gallery and others. Last year, 91% of members of the Museums Association also ratified a new code of ethics, which says that museums should “Transition away from sponsorship from organisations involved with environmental harm (including fossil fuels), [and] human rights abuses”.
明确无误的是，奥斯本的紧缩政策导致了失业和许多文化机构的关闭，同时他补贴了包括BP在内的石油和天然气生产商，其排放助长了我们现在面临的野火和干旱。通过给人留下将博物馆与Palantir、伊戈尔·图尔钦斯基和BP个人关联的印象，奥斯本不必要地使其声名狼藉。
What is categorically true is that Osborne’s austerity policies led to job losses and the closure of many cultural organisations, while he subsidised oil and gas producers including BP, whose emissions fuelled the wild fires and droughts we now face. By giving the perception of personally aligning the museum with Palantir, Igor Tulchinsky and BP, Osborne is unnecessarily bringing it into disrepute.
克里斯·加拉德博士，Culture Unstained联合主任
Dr Chris Garrard Co-director, Culture Unstained