For years, I’ve wondered why so many clever people go to Davos to discuss topics as meaningless as ‘the new global context’ or ‘shared norms for the new reality’. It has always struck me like a massive game of Just A Minute, in which contestants compete on how long they can talk about a theme that makes no sense at all. But as I found out when I visited last week, the real game is far more sophisticated. No one at Davos cares too much about the gabfest. The debates are, in effect, a front for the biggest networking event in the capitalist world.
For one week, this ski resort becomes a fortress guarded by the Swiss army. Venture capitalists chase chief executives, who chase the politicians while the journalists chase everyone. There are so few decent hotels in Davos that there’s nowhere for anyone to hide. Much of the talk was about the stock-market crash, which is troubling the attendees. One of them, I found out, is Sir Richard Branson. ‘My God,’ he said, as he sat down for breakfast on a table behind me, ‘a lot of net worth down the drain in the last few weeks. But not to worry, I suppose it will come back eventually.’ His visitor arrived, and started a Dragon’s Den-style pitch for a business plan. I averted my ears.
On my first evening, I ended up in a funicular railway car next to Chuck Hagel, until recently US Defence Secretary. I asked him about the bombing campaign against the Islamic State and he wasn’t optimistic. Their greatest weapon, he said, was their ability to recruit — not just bored idiots from Bradford, but qualified doctors and gifted computer hackers.
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