I have been really struck in the last few weeks by antipathy towards the increasing and deepening commercialisation of more and more of our lives.   Take this selection of news items (OK I admit they are mostly from the Guardian but there is a similar sense in most other papers too):  ’hidden’ advertising through product placement in TV programmes;  the proposal to ’sell’ the name of Cambridge University Library to a commercial sponsor; the creeping loss of public space in town centres; the substitution of social networking for face to face relationships; the touting for ‘accidents, slips, trips and falls’ on every high street to make money out of claims; the OFT’s conclusion that bus passengers being ripped off but it would be too expensive to stop them;  and so on.  Underlying these apparently random stories is an inexorable drive to make money – putting a value on and selling things that previously had no monetary value at all. All this looks like the last gasps of a country where much of the ‘real’ industry as gone so business turns to selling esoteric things like names and the chance to be seen on TV.

The Government is happily encouraging ever greater penetration of commercial interests into our lives, it seems, having for 13 years been remarkably relaxed about letting business do whatever it likes.  The issues I have highlighted are, I suppose, the underbelly of the same ‘anything goes’ that led to the banking crisis.It is extremely unlikely that a Tory or coalition government would do anything different.  So should nothing be off limits if it makes money?

My gut feeling is that there is a strong public dislike of being exploited on these (and many other) issues.  In the past, it took decades of dissent for it eventually to be accepted that the Government has a role preventing workers from being (over)exploited – so what will it take to stop the air we breathe, the streets we walk on, our relationships with friends and family being (over)exploited too?

It seems to me to be time to call a halt to thinking ‘anything goes’ for business. We’re seeing half-hearted efforts to rein in financial services – but tightening up needs to go much further than that. It’s a new model of doing business, I suppose, but is anyone up for it? I’m not holding my breath.