RIBA sponsors

So Alan Davidson's gone and got his huff on that a Chinese company working in the same industry has stepped into the breech and sponsored the RIBA's Stirling Prize Awards this year. What I fail to see is quite why.

Crystal had already won the visualisation contract for the Olympics before the proposed sponsorship came to light, so his claim that "that some RIBA members will lose their jobs and their livelihoods” is completely unfounded.

Should the RIBA be only by its people, for its people? Should they only support and accept gratuities from members, like the mafia? And more to the point, if Hayes Davidson saw the sponsorship as so lucrative, why didn't they stump up the cash?

Put your toys back into your prams please gentlemen.

However, this does raise the issue of whether the RIBA should themselves expect an ethical approach to the conditions under which people in architecture for their members - either directly or indirectly - are working.