The Guardian Sir Richard Branson is in danger of giving business an even blacker name than it has already in the charity world.
American companies are five times as generous.
Now Sir Richard, who launched his People's Lottery on the prospectus that all profits would go to good causes, will be lodging a compensation claim this week over its unsuccessful bid for the national lottery. He feels he was misled by the commission and unfairly denied the contract. The commission says that if any compensation is paid, it would reduce the amount for good causes. Sir Richard has good grounds for feeling aggrieved by the five-member commission, which, having signalled its intent to award the contract to the People's Lottery, swung back to Camelot following a change of chairman. But he has no grounds for compensation.