Jonathan Todd

Frank Field can have some funny ideas, such as a national government – with Peter Mandelson, Ken Clarke and Vince Cable in charge. However, his proposal of a new higher rate of tax on the super rich, which could be totally off-set against charitable giving, merits more serious consideration. This “new philanthropy“ seems entirely in tune with Barack Obama’s ”new era of responsibility“, with its hope “that the responsibility of giving would take root as the super rich helped existing charitable bodies, set up their own foundations, or back foundations of friends or people they admired, rather like Warren Buffet’s support for the Gates Foundation”.

Indeed, “the aim is nothing less than a revolution in our society”, inspired by government nurturing “a new giving culture. While Governments have a key role in kick-starting a giving habit, the aim is for the new philanthropy to become a habit which is socially prized. It is a plea for moving from regulation to once again of making giving on the widest possible scale an affair of the heart”.

John F Kennedy’s 1960s plea to “ask what you can do for your country” was largely lost in a haze of hashish smoke; just as Margaret Thatcher’s desire to usher in strengthened family values via free markets ran into the sand. Politicians’ exhortations to responsibility can so often fall on deaf ears but, perhaps, Field has a smarter idea for inspiring more responsible, socially concerned and fraternal conduct. We have been rightly quick, via ASBOs and the like, to remind poorer members of society of their responsibilities and now, particularly after the chaos reaped by bankers, seems a very opportune time to ensure that the richest members of society are also properly conscious of their responsibilities.