In the face of the current financial difficulties, it is sometimes argued that "Europe has lost its compass".
Today Mr Knight says the museum "has lost its compass".Most blame board mismanagement for MoCA's troubles.
British politics has, therefore, lost its compass and subjects that should be debated have disappeared into mushy consensus.
But, as with those butler-diplomats, the message can get scrambled.After the devastating attacks of September 11th 2001, American foreign policy lost its compass.
Any technical solution which science claims to offer will be powerless to solve the serious problems of our world if humanity loses its compass, if we lose sight of the great motivations which make it possible for us to live in harmony, to make sacrifices and to treat others well.
Could we be living in an era of such madness, one that has lost its compass and its points of reference to such an extent that this affair of one of the three major rating agencies' withdrawal of America's and then France's triple "A" has taken on such importance?
New Zealand Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, David Shearer, accused Australia of losing its moral compass over offshore detention.
It is important that the spirit of rainbow nation is extracted from the ennui of an increasingly jaded and complacent African National Congress, which, as with so many post-liberation ruling parties, is in danger of losing its moral compass.
All I will say is that when the sport is occasionally accused of losing its moral compass, as happened last week when Queens Park Rangers seemed prepared to offer the unlikeable Marlon King a way back into football, the almost universal reaction of revulsion showed that the moral compass is still in full working order.
Britain is losing its moral compass to such a degree that the armed forces can no longer rely on young recruits to behave in a way once expected by senior officers, General Lord Dannatt, a former head of the army will say on Tuesday.
