Comments on: Power and powerlessness

By: Edward Harkins

Edward Harkins — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:08:16 +0000

Great stuff on confiscating the prepared scripts John. I do a lot of facilitating of groups and small seminars in the UK urban regeneration field. Getting ‘beneath the skin’ of subjects at these events is often hard – I find that you can unintentionally and unhelpfully silence delegates with the killer question “yes, but in hard practical terms what will you/we now do about this?”.

The practice of going to real-time events to merely pose and regurgitate what is often already-known, all to no evident effect, is now deeply embedded in most of our national, and most of the international, networks.

By: richard tudway

richard tudway — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:46:24 +0000

There is another angle on powerlessness. Jon Snow got within a whisker yesterday in his interview with Alistair Darling of
asking the one key question that has to be asked: is the British system of corporate
governance past its sell buy date? The answer to that is certainly yes.

Mixing execution with supervision as in the British and American models explains why
we are constantly light on supervision. Boards have to be reconstituted. Supervisory
boards must be charged with supervising what executives get up to. The neat arrangement
that exists has to end. Then we may avoid scandals like those now brewing at M & S
over pay arrangements as well as the failure of the M & S board to uphold the Cadbury
arrangemnts for separating the posts of chairman and chief executive.
Jon Snow is always trenchant and hard hitting. We rely on him to
keep debates like this movng forward.There can be no drifting back to business as usual.

Richard Tudway

richard-tudway@blogspot.com

By: Peter Lloyd

Peter Lloyd — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:26:39 +0000

Observation and reportage requires context, shape, values and comparison.

Art and politics are shared reflections.

I’m no hack, artist or politician…

But yes I care and I vote.

All of us , all players in society recognise that communication is king..

Confronted by loud and strident voices …..the more a singular voice can be lost .

The loss of Lennon is less important than his musical legacy..

The ‘Imagine’ lyric survives and endures…it shelters and glows.

Warmth and commitment that a young Snow firstly experienced is now an elemental process that he cannot escape, nor wishes to..

Humanity and the human story litter all our lives..some..see and feel the shape and art of life..

Global contact has inevitably become bureaucratic…

I guess that Jon Snow, the peoples’ hack, would decode the moment and strike out for straight forward comment and debate…

What do you think…account and explain…to your audience….

By: Dan Ehrlich

Dan Ehrlich — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:27:49 +0000

Too often events such as this are mere junkets where bureaucrats and politicians can posture, postulate and eventually come up with a communique which will be read to the media and the forgotten.

They then head back to their poverty stricken often oppressive nations so they can posture and postulate on what they accomplished, all th while planning their next junket.

By: marion hebblethwaite

marion hebblethwaite — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:16:05 +0000

Can you tell me why you always say Samira (or whoever) has the REST of the day’s news when you always come in later with more – surely you should say she has MORE of the day’s news. Or is the operative word Day or News – thus implying that what you say next is neither the day’s or news?

By: Anthony Martin

Anthony Martin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:07:11 +0000

It amazes me how reference to ‘poor’, are associated with ‘poor’ third world countries, while the western countries are depicted as rich, as if all its citizens are well off! This is so far from the truth. It’s a minority that are rich and generally corrupt & greedy, while the majority live on or, well below, the poverty line or with nothing, in the so called rich countries. It’s the media spin that’s controlled by the corrupt rich pumping out lies that fool people.
These meetings are just people trying to justify their well renumerated positions, while getting no real concensus on anything!

By: John Kennedy Cartoonist

John Kennedy Cartoonist — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:58:13 +0000

Where was my invite?
http://kennedycartoons.com

By: Alastair Smith

Alastair Smith — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:05:28 +0000

Well done for getting them to get rid of the prepared script. Proper debate and discussion can only happen when politicians and others are straight about what they think and do not simply follow the “party” line.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:51:22 +0000

Maybe you will get invited to the next Bilderberg gathering – now that would be interesting….

By: Saltaire Sam

Saltaire Sam — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:16:24 +0000

It strikes me that on these occasions too many people say the right thing but then nothing gets done. Until the UN gets teeth (unlikely) or developed countries start to mean what they say, little will change.

Sorry, one of my cynical days.