Genetically modified crops are pushed by Lord Sainsbury, the well-known grocer, biotechnology enthusiast and Labour donor, who just happens to have been made science minister. University dons tailor research to the agendas of the commissioning interests that hold their livelihoods in their hands. The management consultancy KPMG kindly produces a numeracy project to promote the enjoyment of maths in primary schools. You bet it is. KPMG does a lot of work for the government, not least in assessing failing education authorities.
Big corporations are anxious to put money into socially useful projects.
Social conscience plays a part, but the main purpose is to maximise business and improve their corporate image by wrapping themselves in a mantle of good works. In response they get a chance to rub shoulders with politicians who have at their disposal patronage, peerages or passports, which they dish out in return for money, endorsement and loyalty, not to mention the odd glamorous party or holiday in the millionaire's chateau. This reliance on big money is about something deeper than the Islington set trying to stitch the chic onto their radical clothes. It's even deeper than getting money to fund the party. It's about the way our civic culture has been taken over by corporate sponsorship, destroying the governing ideal of disinterested public service by the doctrine that everything that is given has its political price.