Three years ago the British government decided to wean the Commonwealth Institute off its subsidies and privatize it. A plan was worked out for a dowry of £8 million, half of which was for repairing the roof of its prestigious London building. But even before the privatization is about to take place, the institute’s “library is closed to the public, most of the staff on short-term contracts have been sacked and the unique collection of works is being put into vans, with the institute’s art, for removal to the underfunded Museum of Empire and Commonwealth, in Bristol. The trustees and governors are accused of planning to sell off the organisation’s prestigious headquarters for millions of pounds and dump its unique 50-year-old library.”