Post-election Quiz:
Joe Biden named four members of his family “Beau,” “Champ,” “Hunter,” and “Major”. Two were his sons, and two are dogs.Can you guess which are which?
*
An article by Diana Kimpton at Conservative Woman
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/who-gains-from-the-pandemic-panic/embed/#?secret=yyV0G19Ype
poses a good question and provides some pithy answers. Thank you Diana. She also provides a link to something called the Great Reset – a link which I followed, since I thought it was about time I knew what it was all about.
[I have an allergy to new words and expressions like some people have to peanuts. Internet acronyms produce violent choking in me. Anything marked “may contain neologisms” I avoid. I became a climate denier years ago when idle curiosity sent me to a site called RealClimate where I kept reading about the Science being Robust. The image of science as something hale and hearty and ruddy-cheeked was a big turnoff to me, and when I first saw photos of Michael Mann and Gavin Schmidt my suspicions were confirmed. What could those stingy stringy fringy little beards be hiding?]
Where was I?
The WEF Great Reset page begins:
There is an urgent need for global stakeholders to cooperate in simultaneously managing the direct consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. To improve the state of the world, the World Economic Forum is starting The Great Reset initiative.
Aaaaargh! Stakeholder is one of those words. I’d always associated it with Tony Blair and killing vampires, which makes no sense because Tony is more vampire than vampire killer. It’s a cunning little word, suggesting that we’re all in this together. Only the size of our stakes distinguishes us. And no-one at the World Economic Forum would be so indelicate as to ask: “How big’s yours?”
This warm sense of inclusiveness is dissipated in the second paragraph though:
Leaders find themselves at a historic crossroads, managing short-term pressures against medium- and long-term uncertainties.
Right. Leaders are at the crossroads, but where are the rest of us? We come back into the picture at the end of paragraph three:
As we enter a unique window of opportunity to shape the recovery, this initiative will offer insights to help inform all those determining the future state of global relations, the direction of national economies, the priorities of societies, the nature of business models and the management of a global commons. Drawing from the vision and vast expertise of the leaders engaged across the Forum’s communities, the Great Reset initiative has a set of dimensions to build a new social contract that honours the dignity of every human being.
Yup. That’s us at the end there. It’s the directors, the prioritisers, the managers and the leaders, with their vision and vast expertise, who are entering the unique window of opportunity. And once through, they’ll be the ones “determining the priorities of societies” and “managing the global commons.” We’re the guys and gals in the last sentence who are going to have our dignity honoured.
For “dignity” read: “posteriors.” For “honoured” read: “handed to you on a plate.”
I know it’s just guff, but guff has meaning, even when it’s meaningless. Especially when it’s meaningless. Take the announcements for today, 9thof November:
First off is the Volvo group, which is launching a Green Finance Framework for the financing of investments and projects in the area of clean transportation. Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of the Volvo Group says:
„Sustainability is a part of our DNA… We take a holistic view on sustainability and are very pleased to show that we are supporting this transition with every part of our organization.“
Then Ahmed Galal Ismail, Chief Executive of Majid Al Futtaim, announces the launch of the world’s first benchmark corporate Islamic green bonds
And finally (for today) there’s the Green Horizon Summit which kicked off this morning. Here are some highlights:
Mark Carney(remember him?) who is now Finance Adviser on the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to the Prime Minister, said:
„Transition plans will reveal the leaders and laggers on the road to Glasgow. We will not get to net zero in a niche, [???] it requires a whole economy transition”.
Christine Lagarde, President at [sic] European Central Bank called for a wholesale transformation of the economy. She says:
“Climate change information remains optional [???]– in part because the financial impact is still not well understood…We need common technical reporting standards and increased data collecting to enable a consistent way to classify green activities and a taxonomy of carbon intensive activities.“
There’s also the European Commissioner for Economy, the Head of the World Bank, and host of other Shovers and On-the-Makers. The CEO of Barclays says:
“What COVID-19 is showing is that we’re on this planet together.”
Well, not actually together, in the sense of “together.” More like far apart really, with them, the leaders, determining the future, directing the priorities of societies, and managing the global commons, on the far side of a video conference, while we stakeholders wait to have our dignity honoured.
Or we could sharpen our stakes and drive them into the heart of the vampire I suppose.
Or we could sharpen our stakes and drive them into the heart of the vampire I suppose.
Posted on by GEOFF CHAMBERS1 Comment
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