Category Archives: Davos 2019

‘This is about saving capitalism’: the Dutch historian who savaged Davos elite

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Rutger Bregman never intended to take billionaires to task over tax at World Economic Forum

Rutger Bregman had not really intended to stick it to the global elite. He never meant to have a pop at the idea that inequality could be solved by philanthropy or inviting Bono to Davos. But when the Dutch historian decided to go off-piste at the World Economic Forum and tell the assembled billionaires they should stop avoiding paying tax, he became an overnight social media sensation.

“It’s been a crazy week and just for stating the obvious,” said Bregman, when asked about a panel discussion at the WEF last month in which he said the issue was “taxes, taxes, taxes, and all the rest is bullshit in my opinion”.

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Historian berates billionaires at Davos over tax avoidance

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Rutger Bregman tells panel that the real issue is the rich not paying their fair share

A discussion panel at the Davos World Economic Forum has become a sensation after a Dutch historian took billionaires to task for not paying taxes.

In a video shared tens of thousands of times, Rutger Bregman, author of the book Utopia for Realists, bemoans the failure of attendees at the recent gathering in Switzerland to address the key issue in the battle for greater equality: the failure of rich people to pay their fair share of taxes.

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Philip Hammond urges business leaders to accept Brexit result

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Speaking in Davos, chancellor says changes such as end to free movement are on the way

Philip Hammond has told business leaders they need to accept the result of Britain’s EU referendum and warned that a failure to implement it would damage the country’s political stability.

The chancellor told increasingly restless business leaders that he was working for a deal that safeguarded the economy, and said he understood their frustration but companies had to accept that changes were coming – such as an end to the free movement of people and business models built on a supply of cheap labour.

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No-deal Brexit ‘poses threat to global stability’ – CBI head

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Carolyn Fairbairn warns bosses at Davos that damage caused by disorderly exit could spread far beyond the UK

Fears are growing internationally that a no-deal Brexit poses a threat to the stability of the global economy, the head of Britain’s leading business body has warned.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI, said the failure to sort out Britain’s departure from the European Union was damaging Britain’s brand abroad and had joined a list of systemic risks to the world economy.

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Davos 2019: Mental health in focus; Abe, Merkel and Qishan speak – live

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Rolling coverage of the second day of the World Economic Forum, as Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel and Wang Qishan all speak, and Prince William discusses mental health

At the Sustainable Development panel, Bono says capitalism has lifted people out of poverty, but warns:

“It is a wild beast. If it is not tamed it can chew up a lot of people along the way.”

@Lagarde says to close the development gap and achieve the SDGs, we need growth first. Secondly, domestic revenue mobilisation needs to increase, and thirdly there can be no white elephants and no corruption, which put off investors. #wef19

Just in: UK chancellor Philip Hammond has dropped off a Davos panel scheduled for Friday morning, on the state of the global economy, we hear.

He’s no longer listed as a speaker for the “Global Economy in Transition: Shaping a New Architecture” session, alongside the World Bank’s Kristalina Georgieva, South African central bank governor Lesetja Kganyago, economics professor Mariana Mazzucato, IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Haruhiko Kuroda of the Bank of Japan.

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Jair Bolsonaro says he will ‘open up’ Brazil’s economy in pro-business speech at Davos – video

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Brazil’s rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro causes alarm among environmentalists after stressing that protecting his country’s unique ecosystem has to be consistent with economic growth. His brief speech to the World Economic Forum outlines a tax-cutting, privatisation agenda. Bolsonaro pledges to bring about economic change, saying that by the end of his term, Brazil will be ‘in the ranking of the 50 best countries to do business with’

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Davos 2019: Prince William interviews Sir David Attenborough – live

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Rolling coverage of the first day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, including appearances from Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Prince William, Sir David Attenborough and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern

I’m delighted to report that Prince William has cracked a joke.

We’re being shown a dramatic clip from Our Planet, of a glacier ‘calving’ -- a massive skyscraper-sized piece of ice, surging upwards and away from the rest of the sheet (making the most almighty din)

Attenborough is now plugging his new TV venture, Our Planet, created with the World Wildlife Fund.

It’ll be shown on Netflix, Attenborough says excitedly, saying that this will give a new audience for his work.

Now, with Netflix, it is possible for a show to be seen by 150 million people overnight.

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Prince William interviews David Attenborough on his life’s work – watch live

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The broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough spoke to the Duke of Cambridge about the 'creeping disaster' of climate change, capitalism and caring for the natural world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Attenborough has already challenged business leaders at the event to 'move beyond guilt and blame' and instead focus on the practicalities of preventing climate change from reaching catastrophic levels

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World’s 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam

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Charity calls for 1% wealth tax, saying it would raise enough to educate every child not in school

The growing concentration of the world’s wealth has been highlighted by a report showing that the 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population.

In an annual wealth check released to mark the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the development charity Oxfam said 2018 had been a year in which the rich had grown richer and the poor poorer.

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