<head> tags in HTML file outside <template> not rendering

None of the tags or scripts in my sections are being output

I have a head tag in one my included HTML files:

<head>
    <meta name="x" content="y">
</head>
<template name="nav">
    <div class="navbar navbar-default" role="navigation">

and it’s refusing to show. Here’s what is in my output html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" class="__meteor-css__" href="/merged-stylesheets.css?hash=dd255553a6c8d6c14f4c6ecfc61c535495ec508a">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/packages/fullcalendar_fullcalendar/dist/fullcalendar.print.css" media="print">

</head>
<body>

As you can see, it is including link tags from packages included in the project.

I’m doing this in an HTML file where the template content is being rendered - so I know I’m including the HTML file itself. But somehow the tag is being ignored.

I’ve tried putting the tag in a different HTML file, but no joy. It’s as if that piece of the functionality - to go through the HTML files and concatenate the tags - has been switched off.

Any ideas clever people?