Should England give the Kohinoor diamond to India?.

I really don't know anything about this diamond but based on what you said - about it being in the crown jewels since the 1850s - then I say it belongs to England and should remain there.  I believe if they have had it for 160+ years then it belongs to them.

I think if something is FOR SURE stolen like all those paintings are, they need to go back. I'd say even the diamond has to go back if it can be proven it was stolen.

Oh, come on... I'm I going to be the first politically incorrect one to say, "Don't be an Indian giver?'

Oh, you went there!  

As my father used to say . . . "Possession is 9/10 of the law"

LOL!

It wasn't the Indian Government that was asking for it back. It was an Indian NGO ( Non Government Organisation) that has taken the Indian Government to court to try and force them to petition for it to be returned.

Leaving aside the gift or stolen argument for a moment. The diamond was given to the East Indian Company by the former rulers of the Punjab as it was then......a country in it's own right. Taking account that the Punjab was partitioned in 1947 and dived between India and Pakistan neither India or Pakistan have a right to it in that respect.

No I don't think we should give it back. It was gift from a country that no longer exists as it was back in 1849.

I was really, really late in watching the mini-series 'Band of Brothers' and just finished the other day. (On a side note, if you haven't seen it either, it was TOTALLY worth it and really good.)

One thing that surprised me though was how much looting went on by the soldiers. Of course I had heard of it happening, but not as widespread as it was portrayed in the show. As I was watching, I wondered how it was different than what the Nazis had done? Is it because they were the winning side? And why didn't someone step up later and demand that it be returned? In theory, these soldiers were looting from the Nazis, but more often than not, I would guess that a lot of it came from looting the populations that were sent to the concentration camps. 

I say this as a person who owns jewelry that came back from when my grandfather was in Europe in WWII. Granted, he was in the Merchant Marines so not actively fights and according to him he traded goods for the jewelry, but you have to wonder if the pearls I love so much were precious to another woman too and lost due to other reasons than hunger.

And this is the case with the Elgin Marbles - they have been at the British Museum since the early 1800s but Greece disputes the permit that was granted allowing Lord Elgin to remove the marbles from the Parthenon (I believe Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time).  Greece has been fighting since its independence to have the marbles returned and the UK as refused.  

The Elgin Marbles were not looted. They were removed with the full knowledge and permission of the Ottoman authorities by Lord Elgin, legitimately during his time as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The British Museum carried out a full investigation before they took charge of them in 1815. I believe that the main reason that the museum are reluctant to return them is.. a) it happened before Greece became independent and... b) The Acropolis Museum allows the Parthenon sculptures that are in Athens (approximately half of what survive from antiquity) to be appreciated against the backdrop of ancient Greek history.   The British Museum tells the story of cultural achievement throughout the world, from the dawn of human history over two million years ago until the present day. The Parthenon Sculptures( Elgin Marbles) are a significant part of that story because of the important representation of ancient Athenian civilization in the context of world history and not just Greek history. It's all about context in what the marbles are used for.......it comes down to.... are they more importantto the public knowledge & learning in the context of world civilization as per the BM or are they more important to just Greek history?

I'll look for it for sure.  I love those kind of shows!  I just watched a whole series on Amazon about art thieves and the recovery of artwork.  It was so interesting!  I also loved Monument Men.  Probably one of my favorite movies in a long time.