Politicians should spend less time hobnobbing with elite at luxury ski resort Davos – and more listening to voters
EVERY year in mid-January, while the rest of us are busy miserably failing to keep our New Year’s resolutions, the world’s richest and most powerful people gather in Davos to discuss how to make the world a better place.
At least that’s what they tell themselves as they fly in on their private jets to guzzle Champagne and caviar at the World Economic Forum summit in the luxury Swiss ski resort.
This is where the global A-listers in business, finance, tech and Hollywood meet up to talk about how much better the world would be if THEY were in charge and not us mere mortals, who only get to have our say at the ballot box every four or five years.
Of course, they don’t say that bit out loud.
It wouldn’t look good on their Facebook, X or Instagram accounts, would it?
Instead, they claim that Davos is all about people coming together to solve global problems such as inequality, poverty and climate change, when what it’s really all about is the rich and the powerful deciding how the rest of us should live our lives.
This week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron and Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves have led the UK charm offensive at the WEF, jetting out to glad-hand the great and the good at the annual luxury shindig.
So why do our politicians fly out to Davos to woo billionaires when they should be listening to voters shivering back at home who can’t get their voices heard on the issues that really matter to us, like the cost of living, unaffordable housing, long NHS waiting lists, crumbling schools, mass immigration and so much more?
There’s a simple answer to that question: It’s because most of our politicians secretly think the world WOULD be a better place if they didn’t have to bother to listen to us voters.
After all, we silly voters keep on getting it wrong!
We do “stupid” things like vote for Brexit or for Trump, so how can we POSSIBLY be trusted to make decisions about other important stuff like the world economy, armed conflicts, the role of big tech and AI, taxation or national borders?
Luxury shindig
That’s the thinking that underpins the entire WEF summit.
Whether it’s elections, tax rates, business regulation or climate change, every single one of the 3,000 attendees share one thing in common: They all think they know better than us.
This isn’t a secret sinister conspiracy — as much as social media and the darkest corners of the internet would have you believe — what it’s really about is big egos.
They’re richer than us so they must be cleverer than us, right?
And they pay to plant trees every time they fly on their private jets, so they must be more virtuous than us too, surely?
They are, in their own minds, the Masters Of The Universe and they want to flex those bulging muscles to control all of our lives.
It’s not just the snobbery and arrogance of these people that should make us angry.
It’s also the blatant hypocrisy of every-thing they say and do.
They fly in on their private jets then lecture us about climate change.
They bleat on about poverty and inequality as they hide their fortunes away in tax havens.
They talk about freedom but then tell us we should live in “15-minute cities” and be charged a fee to drive our own cars.
They tell us we need to stop consuming so much meat as they WhatsApp their personal chefs for a Wagyu beef sandwich.
And, of course, they never have to live with the consequences of any of the policies they push.
They can always buy their way out of it.
They won’t have to suffer under net zero, their mansions will still be warm and cosy no matter how much their energy bills mount up.
They won’t be bothered by LTNs or Ulez fines, they can just pay extra to drive where and when they want.
Open borders?
How lovely for them not to have to bother with passports — and it won’t be their children who have to compete with migrants’ kids for the tiny number of places at a good local school.
Private island
And handing over democratic powers to supranational global bodies such as the World Health Organisation is just fine when you can escape to your private Caribbean island if another pandemic lockdown is imposed.
You name it, they won’t suffer from it. But the rest of us will.
We may not live in mansions but we do live in the real world.
We might not travel the globe in our own jets, but we do know what it costs to fill up the tank to drive to work.
We may not have millions in the bank but we know how much the policies being pushed at Davos will end up costing our standard of living.
It’s high time our politicians stopped courting the global elites, put down their Champagne glasses and started listening to the people who really count: Their voters.
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