British Museum’s director Neil MacGregor trips up over technology wars

Mr S found himself at the British Museum, for the launch of the new exhibition ‘Mummy: The Inside Story’.

The Museum’s esteemed director Neil MacGregor was on hand to give an introductory talk about the development of tools throughout history. From ancient ones – ‘a beautiful hand axe’ – to the pinnacle of modern ones – ‘the iPhone’ – MacGregor explained how civilisation had created some truly staggering pieces of technology.

Staggering indeed. But perhaps MacGregor’s choice of examples were a little ill-advised. The entire exhibition and event were sponsored by Samsung, Apple’s biggest rival.