The lesson from the ruins of Notre Dame: don´t rely on billionaires | Aditya Chakrabortty
(The Guardian France)

The French super-rich promised to dig deep, but such philanthropy comes at a steep priceYou remember the story, of course you do. One of the most ancient and holy buildings on Earth, Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, goes up in flames. As pictures of the inferno are beamed around the world, adjectives rain down: it is atrocious, disastrous, diabolical.Barely has the fire been put out before some of the richest people in France rush to help rebuild it. From François-Henri Pinault, the ultimate owner of Gucci, comes EUR100m (£90m). Not to be outdone, the Arnault family at Louis Vuitton put up EUR200m. More of the wealthy join the bidding, as if a Damien Hirst is going under the hammer. Within just three days, France´s billionaire class has coughed up nearly EUR600m. Or so their press releases state.The race to restore Notre Dame cathedral has topped EUR1bn (£865m) in donations. Continue reading...