I just read the Guardian’s account of today’s Labour leadership hustings, and they are not Tory Lite, they are Tory High Octane. Supporting Tory benefit cuts, calling the unemployed “the work-shy”, defending £9,000 a year tuition fees, supporting Trident and falling over themselves to reject autonomy for the Scottish accounting unit. But what I find even more astonishing is that the Fabian Society audience were lining up afterwards for selfies with Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham, and according to the Guardian nobody wanted a photo with Jeremy Corbyn, the one decent human being there.
The quite astonishing thing is that Andy Burnham, the man who privatised much more of the English NHS than anyone else including the Tories, is (Jeremy aside) touted as the left wing option. There is a very interesting diversionary tactic in play, all over the media. A meme is being promoted – by Burnham’s corporate media supporters – that “Andy Burnham fears he will be attacked over Mid Staffs hospital”. The events at Mid Staffs hospital, though awful, were clearly not Burnham’s personal fault. This is a fascinating PR play and example of media management, an attempt to divert the focus on Burnham’s NHS record on to Mid Staffs which has widespread public name recognition, and away from privatisation where he is much more vulnerable.
“He claims to be anti-austerity but supports Milton Friedman’s monetarist economics at the same time”
Which is of course another of Mr Goss’s lies . . .
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So please enlighten me with the alma mater that presented an economics degree to someone who thinks that the taxpayers rescue of The Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank was Keynesian economics.
Further he does not believe that the liquidity ratio of 8 : 1 was too high before it went even higher. God know what it is today. Trillions have vanished into thin air in the States. That’s trillions of ordinary savers money.
Once again I call upon those who still believe in a social justice agenda and want to see it pursued, to join the Green party. Nothing will happen inside or outside Labour as they are competing as to who is best at polishing hobnail boots.
Labour is too small now for the likes of Jeremy Corbin.
Tariq Ali, as far as I know, has already taken this step and so have thousands of Labour activists, disillusioned with their lazy brained apologists for the Tories.
@CM: It is appalling that the system has become so heartless.
But under no circumstances stop the flood of immigrants, which drives down wages and even destroys all opportunity to work for people like Elaine to work for a living wage.
Yes, let us all deplore the heartlessness of the policy in which we all so fervently believe, to the point of calling anyone who opposes it a fascistic, Hitlerite Nazified racist. LOL.
There wouldn’t be a job shortage if the powers that be, and their useful idiot supporters, didn’t allow international job-seekers to flood the local market and undermine the employment prospects and security of UK citizens. I’m just perplexed as to why so many voters (and so few eligible voters @ 23%) voted to maintain the status quo – ie SNAFU. Maybe some of those who were too lazy to vote should take some of the blame for allowing the Tories to return with a decisive majority. And Russell Brand for encouraging them not to vote.
@ Nevermind:
Once again I call upon those who still believe in a social justice agenda and want to see it pursued, to join the Green party.
No, I think it would be better to join the Christian Scientists for the Universal Happiness of All Mankind Party.
Get real. The only way for labour to regain any power is to intimidate the bastards with the money.
Screw New Labor, Screw the Greens the Liberals and the Scotch Nats. Get out yer banners and start marching for a new Trades Union Act: every workplace to be unionized. That way labour, that is real labour, comprising actual working people, would have the funding for a real labour party. Then the Israeli-funded bastards of all parties in Westminster would find they were in a new world where ordinary folk actually have to be given fair consideration.
“So please enlighten me with the alma mater that presented an economics degree to someone who thinks that the taxpayers rescue of The Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank was Keynesian economics.”
Please read JK Galbraith on the Great Crash and the role that bank collapses had in making the Great Depression worse. Then read Krugman and many other Keynesians on why it was necessary to rescue the banks in 2007-8. While you are at it you could read some of the nuttier monetarists on why we should have let the banks go to the wall. If the banks had been allowed to collapse the impact would have been a massive collapse in effective demand and even greater misery for ordinary people.
I’m not sure what your 8 to 1 ratio you are referring to actually is a ratio of what to what – I think you might be referring to leverage ratios between gross assets and capital – but even then 8 to 1 doesn’t make much sense in relation to current or past levels. A high liquidity ratio (which is usually measured as the ratio between liquid assets and total deposits) is usually seen as measure of bank safety. If Mr Goss wants to read reports from the Bank of England/PRA he will seen that since 2007-8 banks have increased their liquidity ratios, reduced their leverage ratios (which has now been set as a specific regulatory objective) and increased their capital ratios – rather better than relying on his illusory God. I’m interested to know where his savers who lost money in banks are – I don’t think there were significant losses in the US or UK, perhaps he is talking about his Russian oligarch friends who lost out in Cyprus?
Just to keep it simple for Mr Goss he should read this review of Gordon Brown’s book on the crisis by Robert Skidelsky and ascewrtain whether the writer was against rescuing the banks or concerned by the crash in effective demand that would occur if they hadn’t.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/dec/12/beyond-the-crash-gordon-brown-robert-skidelsky
On the other hand perhaps Robert Skidelsky is another ersatz Keynesian with a purchased degree in economics?
Mr Goss might also be polite enough to let us know what is his liquidity ratio of what to what? My guess is that it something to do with the ratio of brown runny stuff and insults to genuine content in his posts – but then 8 to 1 would seem rather low.
More reading to help Mr Goss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%9309_Keynesian_resurgence
Er, do you (Res Dis) and John Goss know each other? Because perhaps you could meet up and sort this out in person. You seem to have been arguing directly with each other for months – years? And, even as a not entirely ignorant reader, I have no idea why.
Villager – that is Western propaganda intent about loading Russia with further UN ‘land-grab’ sanctions. No – no Russian special forces in Eastern Ukraine!
A bridge from Kersh (Port Ukraine) to the Russian main-land(Port Kavkaz) will be finished in 2018.
This writer remembers the crimes of Euromaidan Nazis esp. the pogrom of Korsun on 20/02/2014.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ff5_1423914073
Dedicated to the the Berkut fighters who defended Crimea and their commander Yuriy Abisov, also Sergey Aksyonov for his bravery and giving those champions of truth and justice here in Scotland and England a blue-print for revolution against fascism, totalitarianism and an emerging UK police state.
New Trade unions act? Really? The functionaries who are more interested in their own union survival than the betterment of their workers have failed.
Unless unions sit on the board and are an integral part of R&D, development and management no new act will solve anything for those who create the wealth.
I’m with you that parties are not the answer, but at least the Greens are still in a stage were they can adopt the policies needed. Decentralisation of powers is not a bad start.
In German,”arbeitsscheu” was a term of abuse in the Nazi vocabulary. People were sent to concentration camps (and made to wear black triangles) for being arbeitsscheu or asozial.
Thank you Mark, Kersh is in Crimea, right, so you are saying that the Russians will have road access to the peninsula?
Btw I do find the Russian exclusion from G8 very childish. When are we going to stop the posturing and get our ‘leaders’ to solve issues?
I also don’t get how China, the factory of the world today, is not in the discussion group.
Ho-hum, wherever one looks you have the Type Zero Global Civilisation staring at you. I hope I’m born in a more congenial planet the next time, as beautiful as this Earth is, I don’t get to see as much of it as I’d like to. Though, years ago, I have travelled the globe, except Africa; well I’ve been in Egypt for a 3-day trip, if one can call that Africa…and being there.
at least the Greens are still in a stage were they can adopt the policies neede
Like mass immigration to keep wages down:
Jews should vote for us because we’re pro-migrants, says Green Party leader
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/134462/jews-should-vote-us-because-were-pro-migrants-says-green-party-leader
LOL
Unless labour is organized, i.e., every workplace a closed shop, you will never see a party in Britain with the financial clout necessary to dictate the political agenda.
Or rather I meant you will never see in Britain a workers’ party with the financial clout necessary to to dictate the political agenda.
I agree this is propagandistic misdirection away from his role in privatisation.
Nonetheless, what happened at Mid Staffs was his responsibility because he was Secretary of State for Health. Let’s not let the cunts at the top get away with blaming subordinates forever.
In these benighted times, I wonder how many people will find the following easy enough to understand: a good answer to problems caused by immigration, such as lower wages for British workers, would be to have strong trade unions that welcome immigrants on an equal basis to indigenous workers.
The greatest organisation in the history of the working class was the IWW. Sadly, they’re not about to make a comeback. (The organisation called by that name today is a mere shadow.) Stronger ordinary trade unions that welcome immigrants would be the next best thing.
Stronger ordinary trade unions that welcome immigrants would be the next best thing.
Why, in an age of increasing automation and off-shoring of jobs, would trades unions welcome immigrants?
Unions are, or should be, democratic and democracy is local not global. If there’s a shortage of jobs, no democratic union is going to urge the import of more workers.
In fact, labour unions should have only two real functions:
1. To collect dues and use these to combat the Money Power in politics, thereby electing genuine representatives of the workers to Parliament
2. To ensure that workplace health and safety standards are enforced.
@CanSpeccy – I don’t know why they “would”. What increasing automation is there in sectors such as the building trade, manual work in hotels, restaurants and retail, washing car windscreens, office cleaning, delivering parcels etc. in which many immigrants are employed? Even if there were, so what? As for ‘democracy’, that may be an important concept for you but it isn’t for me. I’d rather talk about wages.
And why do you mention offshoring? Employment is rising in London, largely because of the increased employment of immigrants on low wages. (Don’t expect any mainstream politicians to mention that.)
In the building trade, many workers from Poland and elsewhere are working extremely long hours in shitty conditions for wages that are higher than they could get in Poland but a lot lower than British workers used to be able to command for the same work. They and immigrants from the Baltic States, Romania, etc. are literally lowering wages of British workers and in some cases putting them out of work – a job that in the lat big economic depression was mainly done by workers from Ireland. This vile competition in the workforce is a fact that the middle class left doesn’t want to know about. They’d prefer to believe that anyone who notices it is a feral working class fascist predisposed to bash foreigners, and who (oh the irony) should be considered forever beyond the pale of ‘respectable’ discussion.
I am for cooperation among working class people in their class interest, wherever they come from. When trade unionism assists with that, that’s good.
Your short list of two points setting out what you think unions “should” do doesn’t score many points with me. How about defending wages? How about defending workplace communities?
If the unions ran a big recruitment effort among immigrants, that could help immigrants get higher wages and it could also help British workers from being undercut by immigrants willing to work for lower wages. Win win.
They won’t do it, of course, because they’re part of the big business dominated structure and have been for a long time. But I find that when I talk to people who are concerned about the problems caused by immigration (and to say that the problems don’t exist just isn’t my thing at all – I’m not an ostrich), I sometimes think I can get somewhere when I say that in my view what might help would be stronger trade unions.
A lot of people don’t really listen much to other people, so well-chosen one-liners can help. Capisce?
Don’t you love it how those without jobs are classed as work-shy and have the blame for their unemployment placed squarely on them. And then when a bunch of new jobs come along, say yet another new supermarket, then the politicians line up to claim credit for “creating jobs”.
Win-win for the politicos: someone picks themselves up, gets on their bike, gets on the cliche, starts a business or gets the job and the politicians will claim the credit for your efforts. And when banksters rip off the whole system, banks stop lending, exports stall, businesses are laying off workers, and you fail, then tough luck, it’s all your fault. Hooray!
There’s nothing new about this attitude from Labour. One of their obnoxious female front-benchers – I can’t remember which one – called the long-term unemployed “pistachios”, of the kind that keep getting returned to the bag because they are difficult to open up. She was calling for a hunt and getting the nut-crackers out. That was either in the first years of Blair’s prime ministership or possibly some time in 1994-97 when he was party leader but not yet with his criminal arse in Downing Street.
Blair also made some kind of sneer, which for the moment escapes me, about being accommodation for council trash spoiling his view from his luxury residence in Islington. Nice guy.
Around the same time, his pal the thuggish Jack Straw called for a crackdown on “squeegee merchants”.
That’s the Labour party.
They’re not fit to lick Aneurin Bevan’s boots.
well said former Dundee man, and when the unions, fearty as they are since Thatcher tried to destroy them, have barricaded their functionaries positions as they have, basically destroying the refreshing links that used to rise from the ranks of workers, then they are failing the workers.
By trying to justify their champagne existence and interfere in politics they have grown as alien at the Party politicians they have kept in power.
The unions are partly responsible for the way politics has run and they have no recipe to get out of their dug hole,imho.
‘as the party politician’s,doooh
O/T
Following the useless G7 meeting (going on now) Bilderberg 2015 starts just across the Austrian border on the 11th. Worth a google – but beware of overconspiratorial sites. It’s a highly secretive Atlanticist outfit featuring the likes of Kissinger and Wolfensohn, and yet another club devoted to extremely influential people pursuing well-hidden agendas. No record of its deliberations is released, sessions are in camera.
Official UK attendees last year:
Marcus Agius – Non-Executive Chairman, PA Consulting Group
Helen Alexander – Chairman, UBM plc
Edward M. Balls – Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Cowper-Coles, Sherard Senior Adviser to the Group Chairman and Group CEO, HSBC Holdings plc
Dudley, Robert Group Chief Executive, BP plc
Mandelson, Peter Chairman, Global Counsel LLP
Micklethwait, John Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
Kerr, John Deputy Chairman, Scottish Power
Greening, Justine Secretary of State for International Development
Flint, Douglas J. Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plcNLD Samsom, Diederik M. Parliamentary Leader PvdA (Labour Party)
Sawers, John Chief, Secret Intelligence Service
Osborne, George Chancellor of the Exchequer
Wolf, Martin H. Chief Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
Unofficial UK attendees last year may have included Tony Blair, who coincidentally was reported as addressing a Malmo chamber of commerce – just a quick blast across the Øresund Bridge from the Bilderberg meeting in Copenhagen – at exactly the same time.
No SNP people at last year’s Bilderberg meeting? Will be interesting to see if any attend this year.
Same goes for Syriza and Podemos.
What about Russians and Ukrainians?
Speaking of Bilderberg meetings, Obama is known to have been in Northern Virginia just at the time in the summer of 2008, right after he had clinched the Democratic nomination, when the Bilderbergers were meeting in Chantilly, VA. Since then, there have been persistent rumors that he (and Hillary, who was in D.C. at the time) attended the Bilderberg meeting.
There were an awful lot of attendees from Britain last year.
Here’s the list for this year:
ChairmanCastries, Henri de Chairman and CEO, AXA Group FRA
Achleitner, Paul M. Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG DEU
Agius, Marcus Non-Executive Chairman, PA Consulting Group GBR
Ahrenkiel, Thomas Director, Danish Intelligence Service (DDIS) DNK
Allen, John R. Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, US Department of State USA
Altman, Roger C. Executive Chairman, Evercore USA
Applebaum, Anne Director of Transitions Forum, Legatum Institute POL
Apunen, Matti Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA FIN
Baird, Zoë CEO and President, Markle Foundation USA
Balls, Edward M. Former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer GBR
Balsemão, Francisco Pinto Chairman, Impresa SGPS PRT
Barroso, José M. Durão Former President of the European Commission PRT
Baverez, Nicolas Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP FRA
Benko, René Founder, SIGNA Holding GmbH AUT
Bernabè, Franco Chairman, FB Group SRL ITA
Beurden, Ben van CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc NLD
Bigorgne, Laurent Director, Institut Montaigne FRA
Boone, Laurence Special Adviser on Financial and Economic Affairs to the President FRA
Botín, Ana P. Chairman, Banco Santander ESP
Brandtzæg, Svein Richard President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA NOR
Bronner, Oscar Publisher, Standard Verlagsgesellschaft AUT
Burns, William President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace USA
Calvar, Patrick Director General, DGSI FRA
Castries, Henri de Chairman, Bilderberg Meetings; Chairman and CEO, AXA Group FRA
Cebrián, Juan Luis Executive Chairman, Grupo PRISA ESP
Clark, W. Edmund Retired Executive, TD Bank Group CAN
Coeuré, Benoît Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank INT
Coyne, Andrew Editor, Editorials and Comment, National Post CAN
Damberg, Mikael L. Minister for Enterprise and Innovation SWE
De Gucht, Karel Former EU Trade Commissioner, State Minister BEL
Dijsselbloem, Jeroen Minister of Finance NLD
Donilon, Thomas E. Former U.S. National Security Advisor; Partner and Vice Chair, O’Melveny & Myers LLP USA
Döpfner, Mathias CEO, Axel Springer SE DEU
Dowling, Ann President, Royal Academy of Engineering GBR
Dugan, Regina Vice President for Engineering, Advanced Technology and Projects, Google USA
Eilertsen, Trine Political Editor, Aftenposten NOR
Eldrup, Merete CEO, TV 2 Danmark A/S DNK
Elkann, John Chairman and CEO, EXOR; Chairman, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ITA
Enders, Thomas CEO, Airbus Group DEU
Erdoes, Mary CEO, JP Morgan Asset Management USA
Fairhead, Rona Chairman, BBC Trust GBR
Federspiel, Ulrik Executive Vice President, Haldor Topsøe A/S DNK
Feldstein, Martin S. President Emeritus, NBER; Professor of Economics, Harvard University USA
Ferguson, Niall Professor of History, Harvard University, Gunzberg Center for European Studies USA
Fischer, Heinz Federal President AUT
Flint, Douglas J. Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc GBR
Franz, Christoph Chairman of the Board, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd CHE
Fresco, Louise O. President and Chairman Executive Board, Wageningen University and Research Centre NLD
Griffin, Kenneth Founder and CEO, Citadel Investment Group, LLC USA
Gruber, Lilli Executive Editor and Anchor “Otto e mezzo”, La7 TV ITA
Guriev, Sergei Professor of Economics, Sciences Po RUS
Gürkaynak, Gönenç Managing Partner, ELIG Law Firm TUR
Gusenbauer, Alfred Former Chancellor of the Republic of Austria AUT
Halberstadt, Victor Professor of Economics, Leiden University NLD
Hampel, Erich Chairman, UniCredit Bank Austria AG AUT
Hassabis, Demis Vice President of Engineering, Google DeepMind GBR
Hesoun, Wolfgang CEO, Siemens Austria AUT
Hildebrand, Philipp Vice Chairman, BlackRock Inc. CHE
Hoffman, Reid Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn USA
Ischinger, Wolfgang Chairman, Munich Security Conference INT
Jacobs, Kenneth M. Chairman and CEO, Lazard USA
Jäkel, Julia CEO, Gruner + Jahr DEU
Johnson, James A. Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners USA
Juppé, Alain Mayor of Bordeaux, Former Prime Minister FRA
Kaeser, Joe President and CEO, Siemens AG DEU
Karp, Alex CEO, Palantir Technologies USA
Kepel, Gilles University Professor, Sciences Po FRA
Kerr, John Deputy Chairman, Scottish Power GBR
Kesici, Ilhan MP, Turkish Parliament TUR
Kissinger, Henry A. Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc. USA
Kleinfeld, Klaus Chairman and CEO, Alcoa USA
Knot, Klaas H.W. President, De Nederlandsche Bank NLD
Koç, Mustafa V. Chairman, Koç Holding A.S. TUR
Kogler, Konrad Director General, Directorate General for Public Security AUT
Kravis, Henry R. Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. USA
Kravis, Marie-Josée Senior Fellow and Vice Chair, Hudson Institute USA
Kudelski, André Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group CHE
Lauk, Kurt President, Globe Capital Partners DEU
Lemne, Carola CEO, The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise SWE
Levey, Stuart Chief Legal Officer, HSBC Holdings plc USA
Leyen, Ursula von der Minister of Defence DEU
Leysen, Thomas Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group BEL
Maher, Shiraz Senior Research Fellow, ICSR, King’s College London GBR
Markus Lassen, Christina Head of Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Security Policy and Stabilisation DNK
Mathews, Jessica T. Distinguished Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace USA
Mattis, James Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University USA
Maudet, Pierre Vice-President of the State Council, Department of Security, Police and the Economy of Geneva CHE
McKay, David I. President and CEO, Royal Bank of Canada CAN
Mert, Nuray Columnist, Professor of Political Science, Istanbul University TUR
Messina, Jim CEO, The Messina Group USA
Michel, Charles Prime Minister BEL
Micklethwait, John Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg LP USA
Minton Beddoes, Zanny Editor-in-Chief, The Economist GBR
Monti, Mario Senator-for-life; President, Bocconi University ITA
Mörttinen, Leena Executive Director, The Finnish Family Firms Association FIN
Mundie, Craig J. Principal, Mundie & Associates USA
Munroe-Blum, Heather Chairperson, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board CAN
Netherlands, H.R.H. Princess Beatrix of the NLD
O’Leary, Michael CEO, Ryanair Plc IRL
Osborne, George First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Exchequer GBR
Özel, Soli Columnist, Haberturk Newspaper; Senior Lecturer, Kadir Has University TUR
Papalexopoulos, Dimitri Group CEO, Titan Cement Co. GRC
Pégard, Catherine President, Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles FRA
Perle, Richard N. Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute USA
Petraeus, David H. Chairman, KKR Global Institute USA
Pikrammenos, Panagiotis Honorary President of The Hellenic Council of State GRC
Reisman, Heather M. Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc. CAN
Rocca, Gianfelice Chairman, Techint Group ITA
Roiss, Gerhard CEO, OMV Austria AUT
Rubin, Robert E. Co Chair, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury USA
Rutte, Mark Prime Minister NLD
Sadjadpour, Karim Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace USA
Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, Pedro Leader, Partido Socialista Obrero Español PSOE ESP
Sawers, John Chairman and Partner, Macro Advisory Partners GBR
Sayek Böke, Selin Vice President, Republican People’s Party TUR
Schmidt, Eric E. Executive Chairman, Google Inc. USA
Scholten, Rudolf CEO, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG AUT
Senard, Jean-Dominique CEO, Michelin Group FRA
Sevelda, Karl CEO, Raiffeisen Bank International AG AUT
Stoltenberg, Jens Secretary General, NATO INT
Stubb, Alexander Prime Minister FIN
Suder, Katrin Deputy Minister of Defense DEU
Sutherland, Peter D. UN Special Representative; Chairman, Goldman Sachs International IRL
Svanberg, Carl-Henric Chairman, BP plc; Chairman, AB Volvo SWE
Svarva, Olaug CEO, The Government Pension Fund Norway NOR
Thiel, Peter A. President, Thiel Capital USA
Tsoukalis, Loukas President, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy GRC
Üzümcü, Ahmet Director-General, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons INT
Vitorino, António M. Partner, Cuetrecasas, Concalves Pereira, RL PRT
Wallenberg, Jacob Chairman, Investor AB SWE
Weber, Vin Partner, Mercury LLC USA
Wolf, Martin H. Chief Economics Commentator, The Financial Times GBR
Wolfensohn, James D. Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn and Company USA
Zoellick, Robert B. Chairman, Board of International Advisors, The Goldman Sachs Group USA
I wasn’t surprised to see Ursula von der Leyen, the German defence minister, on the list.
Want a tip? Watch that woman.
For those who are interested in the British attendees, they are:
Agius, Marcus Non-Executive Chairman, PA Consulting Group
Balls, Edward M. Former Shadow Chancellor of Exchequer
Dowling, Ann President, Royal Academy of Engineering
Fairhead, Rona Chairman, BBC Trust
Flint, Douglas J. Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc
Hassabis, Demis Vice Pres of Engineering, Google DeepMind
Kerr, John Deputy Chairman, Scottish Power
Maher, Shiraz Senior Research Fellow, ICSR, King’s Coll London
Minton Beddoes, Zanny Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
Osborne, George First Sec of Stat, Chancellor of Exchequer
Sawers, John Chairman and Partner, Macro Advisory Partners
Wolf, Martin H. Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times