Monday, April 17, 2006

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | How to stifle philanthropy

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | How to stifle philanthropy: "How to stifle philanthropy

No wonder the spirit of Andrew Carnegie no longer stalks the land. Giving is now a dirty word

Tristram Hunt
Sunday April 16, 2006
The Observer

The arrest and bailing of academy school advocate Des Smith in Scotland Yard's 'cash for honours' inquiry has been greeted with a bizarre degree of media glee. Officers will have to decide whether Smith is guilty under the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act, but we should all be wary of this culture of contempt for the entrepreneurs and businessmen who are generously donating to academy schools.

For the truth is that we have far too little philanthropy. As Major Bill Cochrane of the Salvation Army puts it: 'There is a meanness abroad in society today.' Barring a few high-profile exceptions - Tom Hunter, George Weston, Elton John and the Sainsburys among them - the rich in Britain give far too little of their money away."

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