Following the involvement of pop singer and cheer leader Madonna in the recent Live Earth concert her charity, The Ray of Light Foundation, has been criticised for its shareholdings in companies identified by environmentalists as big polluters.

There are, according to America’s Fox News network, which broke the story, such as Alcoa, the aluminium company ranked 9th on a list of all-time toxic firms drawn up by the University of Massachusetts. Also invested in and appearing on the toxic list are health firm Kimberly-Clarke and defence firm Northrupp Grumman.

The singer set the intellectual tone for Live Earth’s organisers by urging all the thinking environmentalists in the Wembley audience “If you wanna save the planet, jump up and down”.