The British Council’s Wikipedia entry seems to have been written by a strange mixture of Council suits and disgruntled employees. The first part, headed “Initiatives”, is full of bland bureaucratese, such as, “The British Council is expanding the programme to help more young people prepare for global citizenship.” The second, much longer part is headed “Criticism”. This makes various allegations:

1. The Council is closing libraries and offices in various countries. Fay Weldon is furious. What’s more, the Krauts and Frogs are opening cultural centres left, right and centre.
2. A Tory MP is up to something dodgy involving the Council and his company.
3. The Council has problems in Russia and there’s some nepotism in its management.
4. In China the examiners have dodgy contracts and nobody cares. The BC is promoting British universities, which are crap.
5. In India the BC’s Education and Research Initiative involves dodgy arms dealers, who are being investigated by the US Justice Department .
6. In Scotland something else dodgy is happening, but I was getting too bored to read this bit carefully.
7. George Orwell advised writers not to work for it.
8. Some of its employees are spies.

On the discussion page someone has written, “As an employee of the British Council, I have to say that it is run in London and in its offices abroad by a bunch of fools.”

I expect one of the Wikipedia gnomes will soon clean the entry up, which will be a pity.