How Lily Cole entered the spirit of giving

Fresh from this week’s Evening Standard two cultures debate, Lily Cole sponsored last night’s Cambridge Union debate on philanthropy. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales asked the audience “How many of you have used Wikipedia while here?” The entire chamber shot up its hands.

“My vision of the Society of Giving does not include throwing babies off cliffs in a Spartan manner, or forcing young woman into gift-related slavery,” he joked. Cole unveiled impossible.com, her philanthropic app, and said she had tried it out, asking for two blankets so she could rest under the Giving Tree, the chestnut tree in front of King’s College Chapel — and she got one. With such charming requests, who could fail to be generous?