The wealthy are being urged to follow the lead of Lord Sainsbury.

The philanthropic Tory peer has made a £25 million donation to the British Museum, in what could herald a new shift in funding.

The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, called on the rich of Britain to do more to fund the preservation of cultural institutions on Sunday, after the Lord Sainsbury pledge has outstripped government funding on its own. Hunt said that the government did not wish to rely on the generosity of private individuals to fill the funding gap in the culture budget, which has been shaved by 25 per cent, but added that he hoped more like Lord Sainsbury would come forward to help bankroll national institutions.

The donation, which was the largest in Britain since the National Gallery was given £50 million in 1995 by Sir Paul Getty, naturally delighted museum officials who have been anxiously awaiting on news for how to go about managing their own funding cuts.

The money from the donation will go towards a new Lord Rogers-designed £135m exhibition space and conservation centre, which will house temporary, blockbuster shows and play home to specialist conservation laboratories. Popular exhibits, including the soon to be released Book of the Dead show on Egyptian antiquity, are currently displayed in a temporary viewing area inside an old reading room. The government had initially promised to donate 22.5m for the new facility, with around 70 per cent of the funding target now met.

The Grooveshark music streaming application has been removed by Apple just days after it’s much anticipated release.

The app led to a major entertainment company launching a complaint, as the ink was still drying on the contract.

Launched around August 11, Grooveshark’s iPhone application had been approved by Apple according the director of marketing and business development, Vishal Agarwala. However, it was only five days later that Agarwala received a letter from the client in regards to the complaint. In the letter, Apple said that Universal Music Group UK complained, and subsequently the app would need to be withdrawn from retail stores. Grooveshark is in competition with other streaming services such as Spotify to provide digital music services.

The Grooveshark online blog said the company was totally surprised by the letter and will do everything they can to fix the problem and get the App Store restocked. Grooveshark said its biggest worry was the potential impact on the customer, who they called ‘loyal awesome users’. Luckilly, the app itself is still operational for those who managed to download during the five day period.

The exact nature of the Universal Music Group complaint has not yet been revealed, but music by artists such as Bon Jovi, 50 Cent and Amy Winehouse, all from Universal, was still available on the Grooveshark website. The provider said it would comply with any request made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to withdraw its products.

The supposed restorative powers of a rare Swiss apple tree have to date been the exclusive preserve of the rich.

The highly prized skin creams that evolve from the little known Uttwiler Spatlauber tree usually sell at exclusive cosmetic outlets for in excess of £200 per bottle.

However, next month will see the debut of a slightly cheaper version from the leading UK discount store Superdrug. Superdrug’s new Optimum cream includes the same rare apple branch extract ingredients that are found in rival Clark’s Botanicals Cellular Lifting Serum, which costs £225. But is it any good?

Is Superdrug simply jumping on the Swiss apple phenomenon bandwagon with its latest release? Or does it offer a genuine anti-aging product that has had its lauded extract trademark hailed as the greatest product since botox? The cream is certainly light, refreshing, non-oily and unsurprisingly, apple-eqsuely fragrant. The research team in the laboratories behind Optimum has insisted that the product gives what they call ‘a promise’ of rejuvenation, although they admit that clinical trials had not be able to confirm this hinted-at benefit.

At just £9.99, it’s no doubt worth giving a go as much as the next miracle solution, and as Superdrug’s brand director Andrew Groom states, the way you look need not be dependent on the depth of your pocket. The overnight renewal serum from Optimum will go up in price on October 28, so it may be too soon to know if it truly does fight the visible signs of aging. But when all you are really paying for is an apple branch, it does seem logical to go with the cheaper brand.

Women who shop on a whim for miniskirts or stilettos but secretly wonder if they will ever have the chance to wear them may have a very good reason.

It’s all down to hormones according to a new report by a team of US researchers, who claim that women buy sexy clothes when they are at their most fertile in a bid to compete with their rivals.

The research team created a fake website to investigate whether hormonal cycles influenced women’s shopping patterns. They soon discovered that ovulating women were more attracted to so-called ‘sexy clothes’ such as skimpy tops, stiletto heels or mini-skirts, but also that if they were shown images of attractive women who lived in their local area they were even more inclined to buy.

Being shown images of women who lived far away had no effect on the shopping habits, but when they lived close-by, spending rose by 25 per cent. Study leader Kristina Durante claimed the report findings, which were published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs, were clear proof that hormonal changes associated with female fertility heightened sensitivity to same-sex competition, with ovulating women more likely to dress to impress.

Dr Durante speculated that the cause of the behaviour was due to competition with other females rather than a direct attempt to be seen as attractive by males, given the shopping trends were only influenced by images shown of other women. When presented with images of local, attractive men, there was no difference in the responses between ovulating and non-ovulating women.

Leading high street fashion retailer French Connection has expanded its digital market.

The popular fashion label has announced the activation of a new online service that allows customers to rate its products.

Utilising the social commerce platform Bazaarvoice, French Connection hopes that by encouraging consumers to go online and rate their offerings, customers will be able to share their shopping experiences with their peers to enable the public to make better-informed decisions, while the initiative will also have the added benefit of a likely reduction in the number of returns.

The retailer can also keep abreast of what its customers are saying and tailor their services accordingly, such as using descriptions from reviewers to shape their own presentation and description. The move is the first of several new marketing strategies from French Connection, which is also looking at the addition of an online video sharing service for customers to model items in addition to other digital engagement such as a soon to be released mini-series that will feature on You Tube.

The digital revolution is part of the present ‘The man and the woman’ advertising campaign that will use a series of short films to showcase the forthcoming autumn collection, where viewers can click on the featured items to purchase online. The move is all part of a greater push to bring in-store facilities to in-home, as many customers do not have the time or opportunity to spend hours trying on sizes and models in fitting rooms to make their decision.