Culture shock: billionaires step down from leading roles in the arts
In surprise moves, Carphone Warehouse founders quit their positions at the Royal Museums Greenwich and Royal Opera House
1 May 2021 • 10:00pm
David and Shelley Ross with David and Samantha Cameron at the Conservative summer party in 2006
Credit: Getty
As two of the founders of Carphone Warehouse, David Ross and Sir Charles Dunstone have a great deal in common.
They both went to the same public school, forged stellar careers becoming billionaires, donated to the Conservative Party and are generous patrons of the arts.
But, this weekend it emerged both men are leaving roles at the helm of two world-renowned British institutions – the Royal Opera House and Royal Museums Greenwich – amid claims the Government is waging a “culture war”.
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Against the backdrop of the country s coastal regions facing devastation from cyclones and tidal surges over decades, work of protecting people s lives and livelihoods through strong embankments and afforestation goes slow due to funding and policy constraints.
According to officials and water experts, a majority of some 5,700 kilometres of embankments in 19 coastal districts are not sufficient in preventing inundation by high tides, salinity intrusion and tidal surges from cyclonic storms.
This is because the embankments around the 139 polders (low-lying tract of land protected by embankments), constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, have been damaged in the recurring natural disasters in the coastal region, which is home to 35 million people 28 percent of the country s population.