Mal Fletcher comments on the development of social responsibility in business

Then the police and courts were called into question in the aftermath of the riots in London and other cities. Meanwhile, universities were grilled about the way they so enthusiastically - some would say, greedily - took to a newly instituted academic fees structure.

Science came under the spotlight, too, on a number of fronts. There were heated discussions between pro-climate-change advocates and those who loudly questioned their pronouncements - if not about the existence of warming, at least on the prognoses for future change.

In more recent times, questions have been asked about whether public faith in medical science has been abused by some medicos. Some inadvertently or otherwise seem to play to the interests of Big Pharma by hastily offering drugs as the only viable treatment for whatever ails us.

A report last year revealed that the number of British deaths involving tranquilisers and strong painkillers had risen by 16 percent over the previous five years.

Since 2003, the number of such prescriptions per year has jumped by more than 60 percent. This growth has featured drugs prescribed for anxiety and depression as well as those used to deal with pain.

Meanwhile, 11,000 women were hospitalised in 2011-12 with antidepressant poisoning. Apparently this is now a bigger problem in the UK than heroin addiction. It is right that questions should be asked about medical and scientific ethics.

The media and press soon found themselves under the glaring ethics spotlight, too, with the emergence of claims about phone hacking.

Though claim and counter-claim had been floating about since 2005, this debate became particularly acute after revelations in 2011 that a missing schoolgirl's phone had been hacked.

The hacking of Milly Dowler's voicemail system by reporters led to expectations that she may still be alive when in fact she had been murdered.

So strongly did the public react to this story that one of the nation's oldest tabloids eventually closed its doors forever. (Hacking claims continue to appear nine years after the first stories emerged.)

During this period, the Catholic Church was also under suspicion in some quarters for its handling, or mishandling, of historic child abuse cases. The ripples continue to impact some sections of the Catholic Church and other religious organisations - and, in most cases, rightly so.

Since its inception in October 2007, Wonga has offered what appear to be quick and easy loans to people who need money fast.

It has invested heavily in advertising, making applying for a loan seem the most natural thing in the world. It has offered no support services for people who can't pay up on time; nor has it provided access to the thing many people need more than money - sound long-term advice on how to budget.

Wonga and other companies like it have prospered because of a public perception that banks are disinclined to help 'the little guy', being preoccupied mainly with big business.