G20: the way ahead ignores unresolved issues

Home of golf and full of five star hotels, St. Andrews is a lovely spot for a weekend shindig, so it’s no surprise that the G20 have convened there for their latest navel-gaze.

This meeting was supposed to be the preserve of finance ministers, but you can’t keep a statesman down. Gordon Brown delivered an impromptu lecture on ‘the way ahead’ to ministers who have, by some fluke obviously, stewarded a return to growth in their respective countries. Brown is adamant that curbing stimulus packages and inaugurating exit strategies be co-ordinated globally. He spoke of the need to protect taxpayers’ investments with what he called a ‘social contract’. He cited a financial compensation scheme to cover losses of failing investment banks, a tax on all financial transactions, and the perpetual claim that bonuses must be curtailed, as possible solutions – welcome to taxpayers, but could these suggestions, especially the tax option, work in practice or be adopted globally?