What’s the deal with the Parthenon Sculptures?

What is all this business with the Parthenon Sculptures all of a sudden? Is it the barrage of foreign reports, each presenting its own version of developments and inside information? Is it the secret meetings between the Greek prime minister and the head of the British Museum, George Osborne? Is it the announcements by the government and those from the opposition? The clear statement of the Ministry of the Culture on the one hand, that the country remains firm in its position of not recognizing the British Museum's ownership of the sculptures as they are the product of theft? Or, on the other hand, the intervention by the main opposition party, SYRIZA, which demanded that Parliament's relevant committee convene at once and call the government to provide an explanation for its actions? 

Or is it, instead, the desperate need to expand the pre-election agenda, which is already...