As far as this particular gathering goes, Tora, I want nothing at all from it. It has no bearing on everyday policies which governments should be concentrating on. I won't bore you too much with the aims and objectives of the WEF - much of it is corporate-style waffle, the type of stuff at which John Birt excelled during his time at the BBC. But here's an extract from its "mission statement":
"We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change."
Well nobody from my walk of life (nor probably yours) is currently in Davos. Apart from the usual sprinkling of "world leaders" there are 56 finance ministers and 19 governors of central banks. There are also 1,500 business leaders, among them 600 chief executive officers of some of the world's biggest firms. These are not people from my walk of life.
Quite how it is possible to gain a consensus on anything that matters from so many people is difficult to see and quite how such a large number of business leaders and politicians can be said to be "bringing together people from all walks of life" is also a bit tricky to understand.
In the UK, small and medium sized businesses account for about half of the nation's private sector employment and 60% of its turnover. So who of those gathered in Davos is representative of people from those walks of life? Who is speaking for hairdressers, corner shopkeepers, tech start ups, small manufacturers, independent hospitality providers and all the rest. All of these will have priorities vastly different to the 1,500 business leaders currently quaffing it away in Switzerland.
I've no objection to business leaders getting together for a jolly. I don't really mind a few politicians getting in on the act. But for an enterprise that has, in its mission statement, a passage which says bringing together people from all walks of life is its preferred strategy, but who then goes on to promote a gathering which is anything but, is deceitful to say the least.