The World Economic Forum is so achingly earnest and desperately right-on that it’s hard not to see it as a kind of sanctimonious lamprey latching on to the political zeitgeist. The Swiss-based foundation’s po-faced, irony-free mission is “improving the state of the world”, no less. Presumably that includes rolling back post-modern cynicism, too.
Next week’s annual meeting in Davos will be attended by 3,000 politicians, business leaders, bankers, academics and media hangers-on like myself. The global elite who have just been given the finger in Britain and America, in other words. This year more than ever, Davos needs to be self-aware.
Events such as “A Day in the Life of a Refugee”, an hour-long “simulation” held in the Hilton, or panel discussions where the super-rich