Just how fraught it can be for companies not only to do the right thing but to be seen to be doing the right has been highlighted by The Times newspaper's attack on Anglo American's mining operations in Zimbabwe. 'Outrage over £200 million investment in Zimbabwe' shouted the front page lead headline in The Times, 25 June. The article implied that Anglo American was somehow giving succour to the Mugabe regime by investing in a new platinum mine.

 

'Bringing together a new engagement based on trust'; 'Ego will have to be parked at the door'; 'Purposeful partnership between civil society organizations and business'; 'need for partnerships based on respect and humility'; 'a gentle, collaborative approach'. These were some of the phrases expressed by Tony Manwaring which I picked up when he addressed the UK-India Business Leaders Conference on Climate Change in parliament, 26 June.

How to stay ethical during a downturn: this was the theme of a talk given by Roger Steare, author of Ethicability, at Cass Business School in London on 26 November.

The scale of the fraud, amounting to some $50 billion, committed by the former head of the Nasdaq market Bernard Madoff beggars belief. What lessons can be drawn from it about the nature of trust - and gullibility?

What is our human response to financial crisis and recession? They need moral as well as economic components, as the father of capitalism emphasised.