Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs has written for The Times Business about the philanthropic motivations of those who have donated vast amounts of money towards the rebuilding of Notre Dame.

In his article Mark argues that the financial response to the fire in Paris last week shows that the state need not be the first point of call for dealing with tragedy and funding a remedy. In effect, the reconstruction of Notre Dame has been privately crowdfunded.

The correct conclusion to draw from the Notre Dame incident is that we need to breathe more life into the role that the private sector can play in both protecting and rescuing our heritage.

Read the full article here. (££)