Davos 2023: Key takeaways from the World Economic Forum

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 21 January 2023

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DAVOS, Switzerland - Global leaders and business executives departed a freezing World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on Friday after a frank exchange of views over how the world will tackle its biggest issues in 2023.

Here's what we learned:

ECONOMY: Gloom and doom heading into Davos turned into cautious optimism by the end with the global economic outlook for the year ahead looking better than feared.

But the WEF's annual meeting was filled with discussion of plenty of risks, including inflationary pressures from China's reopening and rising debt distress in the developing world. Not to mention that the hardest bit for Western nations is yet to come - getting inflation down to 2%.

"Things are not great, but they are much better than they could have been." - Daniel Pinto, JP Morgan's (JPM.N) president and chief operating officer.

UKRAINE: For Ukraine's allies, Davos was all about doubling down on better weapons and financial support for Kyiv to defend itself against Russia. Outside the West though, fears of an economic downturn highlighted global divisions as some delegates encouraged a quick return to the negotiating table.

"This week listening to the politicians, I was surprised in a way because I got the feeling that no-one really knows exactly where we are heading and what the solutions can be." - Tanja Fajon Slovenia Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

"If we want a negotiated peaceful solution tomorrow, we need to provide more weapons today." - NATO Secret General Jens Stoltenberg.

TRADE: Be careful of friendshoring, warned the WTO's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the big three trading powers of the United States, Europe and China pushed their new industrial policies.

What was not clear was how the rest of the world fits in to new trade policies that protect workers and redefine supply chains.

"This becomes a rich-country game, right? We can subsidize this, you can subsidize that – what about the poor countries, who have limited fiscal room? They get left out in the cold." -Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

CLIMATE: The carbon crowd received a warm reception as the renewable industry rubbed shoulders with Big Oil executives. Awash with cash after a year of high oil prices, fossil fuel producers have the firepower to invest in green energy. But efforts on CEO green pledges and climate financing appeared sluggish.

On the outside, Greta Thunberg and activists called on the energy industry to stop hijacking the transition to clean power. On the inside, political leaders like Kier Starmer railed against new oil investments and Pakistani climate minister Sherry Rehman pushed for loss and damage funding.

"How do we get there? The lesson I have learned in the last years ... is money, money, money, money, money, money, money." - U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on meeting the Paris Agreement's global warming target.

TECH: Davos juxtaposed the industry's potential and peril.

Just as Microsoft Corp's CEO and other Silicon Valley executives touted artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT to transform their businesses, they announced layoffs of tens of thousands of employees globally. Scrutiny of once high-flying cloud spending by businesses was at the forefront.

Businesses are "under enormous cost pressure. They need to find ways to do the same things cheaper." - Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies

CHINA: China declared itself open for business in a speech by Vice-Premier Liu He that was broadly welcomed but also raised inflationary fears and left people waiting to see what this would mean for existing tensions with the United States.

"The growth forecasts now for China is 4.5%. I would not personally be surprised when that would be topped." - Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann.

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Dubbed a gamechanger for climate change by IEA head Fatih Birol, the Europeans had plenty to gripe about when it came to America's Inflation Reduction Act.

The European Union said it would mobilize state aid and a sovereignty fund to keep firms from moving to the United States.

"The key question is not China First, US First, Europe First. The key question for all of us is Climate First." - French economy minister Bruno Le Maire.

FINANCIAL SERVICES: Global financial institutions are grappling with how to right-size for a slowdown, while dealing with a host of other headwinds. With the threat of inflation still hanging over central banks, financiers are facing demands from regulators for higher capital levels to prepare for a downturn, making some businesses unprofitable.

Pressure is also increasing on them to finance the global transition to a greener future much faster than they have been doing so far. Other exogenous events such as geopolitics and cybersecurity risks are further complicating matters. Consensus is elusive.

"We shall stay the course until such a time when we have moved into restrictive territory for long enough so that we can return inflation to 2% in a timely manner." - Christine Lagarde.

‘Flawed’ and ‘petty’ Harry book released

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 10 January 2023

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LONDON - Bookshops across London opened at midnight as Prince Harry’s much-anticipated memoir officially went on sale.

The Book Seller "Waterstones" said the book has been one of its “biggest pre-order titles for a decade” and Sky News said it has made headlines across the world thanks to “bombshell revelations”.

Meanwhile, the first reviews are in. The Guardian described Spare as a “flawed attempt to reclaim the narrative”, The Times said it is a “400-page therapy session for mystic Harry” and The Daily Telegraph said the “poignant memories of his mother” are “undermined by petty point-scoring”.

Can Prince Harry ever reconcile with the royals?

Prince Harry’s final round of TV interviews ahead of the release of his autobiography Spare may have ended any hope of a future royal reconciliation as he “once again twisted the knife on his closest family members”, said the Daily Mail.

In pre-recorded interviews on ITV and CBS, which aired last night, along with another on Good Morning America (ABC) today, the Duke of Sussex tried to row back on claims his family is racist while still suggesting the institution needs to do more to address unconscious bias within palace walls. At the same time he doubled down on previous allegations, accusing his brother and sister-in-law of “stereotyping” his wife, Meghan, because of portrayals in the British media, and stating that “certain members” of his family had been cosying up to journalists, or as he put it “getting in bed with the devil”.

Since copies of his tell-all memoir were accidentally leaked early by a Spanish retailer last week, Harry has faced a huge backlash from the British press and public, with polling showing that he and his wife are now the least popular senior royals apart from Prince Andrew, according to the Financial Times.

An interview on US television saw Prince Harry cross his father’s “red line” by calling his stepmother “dangerous”, said the tabloid.

Prince Harry insisted he is “100%” confident he can reconcile with his family and multiple news outlets have reported that King Charles is also keen to mend relations with his youngest son. The King reportedly wants to extend an invitation to the Sussexes to his coronation, which will take place in May.

Prince Harry yesterday ruled out a return from California. Ask on US TV whether he could again be a working royal in the United Kingdom, he replied: :I don't think it's ever going to be possible".

Sources have claimed that Prince William is so hurt and enraged by his brother’s accusations that he has “no appetite” to speak to him again, said the Daily Mail, while the Daily Express reports that Charles is “upset and saddened” by his son’s latest remarks.

“Charles wants to project an image of unity for the royal family and would like a genuine rapprochement with his youngest son,” reported Vanity Fair. However, the magazine cited “sources close to the King” who have also said that Charles “will not tolerate Harry attacking his wife and that Harry may have crossed a line by speaking about Camilla”, whom he accused of planting stories in the press and being a “villain” who “needed to rehabilitate her image”.

What next?

A source told The Daily Telegraph that King Charles “has never given up hope of reconciling with the Duke of Sussex”. The paper said that “despite all of the recent revelations and allegations fired from California, Charles believes he will one day be reunited with his son and they will move forward”.

What are the 10 biggest talking points from Prince Harry’s ITV interview?

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 09 January 2023

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LONDON - Extract after extract from Prince Harry’s memoir Spare flooded the news cycle this week, after it was leaked in Spain five days before its official publication date.

These publications came to a head on Sunday (8 January), when the Duke of Sussex’s highly anticipated interview with ITV host Tom Bradby was aired.

The conversation, lasting almost two hours, included Harry narrating controversial and startling excerpts from the book which, according to one royal biographer, “could mark the beginning of the end” of the monarchy.

The memoir includes revelations about members of the royal family including Harry’s brother William, Prince of Wales, and his step-mother, Queen Consort Camilla.

It also contains anecdotes about the prince’s drug use, how he lost his virginity, and the birth of his son Archie.

During his conversation with the British broadcaster, Harry opened up about his decision to publish the “personal and moving” memoir, launched a scathing attack on the UK press, and clarified some recent headlines about Spare.

However, the interview failed to impress critics who branded the programme as “stage-managed and unchallenging from start to finish” in his review.

Here are the 10 biggest talking points from the duke’s sit-down with Bradby.

Feud with his brother William still a sore point

Much of Harry’s ire in the ITV interview was directed at his older brother, William. In excerpts from Spare, he accuses his brother of physically attacking him, and also claims that the Prince and Princess of Wales created tension with Meghan from the beginning.

“I had put a lot of hope in the idea that it’d be William and Kate and me and whoever,” he explained to Bradby.

“I thought the four of us would bring me and William closer together… we could go out and do work together, which I did a lot as the third wheel to them, which was fun at times but also, I guess slightly awkward at times as well.”

He continued by saying that William and Kate wouldn’t have expected him to get involved with “someone like Meghan” and suggested that his brother and sister-in-law’s behaviour towards her was affected by that.

“Some of the way that they were acting or behaving definitely felt to me as though unfortunately that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really introducing or welcoming her in,” he said.

Pushed by Bradby to elaborate, he said: “Well, American actress, divorced, biracial, [there are] all different parts to that and what that can mean. But if you are, like a lot of my family do, reading the press, the British tabloids, at the same time as living the life, then there is a tendency where you could actually end up living in the tabloid bubble rather than the actual reality.”

Harry brands Jeremy Clarkson’s Meghan op-ed “horrible, hurtful, and cruel”

Addressing Clarkson’s column in The Sun, which prompted a landslide of complaints before being taken down, Harry told Bradby: “What [Clarkson] said was horrific, and is hurtful and cruel towards my wife.

“But it also encourages other people around the UK and around the world, men particularly, to go and think that it’s acceptable to treat women that way,” the duke, 38, continued.

Prince Harry claims Camilla launched ‘campaign’ to marry his father

In an excerpt from his book, that was played during the interview, Harry claimed Queen Consort Camilla launched a “campaign” to marry his father, now King Charles.

Harry writes that while he and William “supported” their father’s relationship with Camilla and “endorsed” her, they asked him not to marry her.

“He didn’t answer. But she answered. Straight away. Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game,” Harry’s narration continues. “A campaign aimed marriage, and eventually the Crown, with Pa’s blessing we presumed.”

Harry responds to accusations of hypocrisy over memoir and Netflix documentary

When Bradby pressed his interviewee, asking him about the accusation he’s violating his family’s privacy “without permission” after fighting back against intrusions into his and Meghan’s personal lives, the duke responded: “That’ll be the accusation from the people that don’t understand or don’t want to believe that my family have been briefing the press.”

Prince Harry breaks silence on Lady Susan Hussey racism row

The duke addressed the recent controversy that broke out after Lady Susan Hussey asked a Black British charity worker where she “really came from”.

Harry told Bradby he was “very happy” for Sistah Space founder Ngozi Fulani to be invited to the palace for a reconciliatory meeting with Lady Hussey, “because [the Duchess of Sussex] Meghan and I love Susan Hussey”.

He continued: “And I also know that what she meant – she never meant any harm at all. But the response from the British press, and from people online because of the stories that they wrote was horrendous.”

Harry says members of royal family have ‘gone to bed with the devil’ to help press image

Prince Harry told Bradby that some members of the royal family had “gone to bed with the devil”, referring to the media, to rehabilitate their press image.

Harry said: “I love my father. I love my brother. I love my family. I will always do. Nothing of what I’ve done in this book or otherwise has ever been to any intention to harm them or hurt them.”

However, he continued: “After many, many years of lies being told about me and my family there comes a point where going back to the relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press, those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right?”

Prince Harry says there are ‘25 versions of bridesmaids story’ about Meghan and Kate

Harry, 38, claimed there were “25 versions” of the story where it was reported that Meghan Markle made his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, cry.

It was widely reported that Meghan had made Kate Middleton cry over an argument over bridesmaids’s dresses around the time of her wedding to Harry.

However, in his memoir, Harry claims it was his wife who was left in tears and that Kate visited the following day to apologise.

Questioned on why the story was never corrected, Prince Harry said: “It’s a question for them. They were more than happy to put out statements for less volatile things.”

Harry recounts ‘horrible reaction from my family’ after queen died

Prince Harry reflected on the “horrible reaction” he alleges he recieved from the royal family when he was reunited with them after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The duke said that the day Britain’s longest-reigning monarch died “was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members”.

“I was like ‘We’re here to celebrate the life of granny and to mourn her loss, can we come together as a family?’ but I don’t know how we collectively – how we change that,” he said.

Duke’s fears for his family’s safety

Harry claimed that one of the main reasons he left the UK with Meghan to start a new life in Los Angeles was due to concerns surrounding their personal safety.

Citing the death of his mother, Diana, Harry said he didn’t want to be “a single dad” like his father, implying he was concerned history would repeat itself if he and Meghan stayed in the UK where they would continue to be hounded by the media.

“I don’t want history to repeat itself. I do not want to be a single dad. And I certainly don’t want my children to have a life without a mother or a father,” he said.

Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior members of the royal family in March 2020, and relocated to Montecito, California in the United States.

He believes the royal rift can be healed

Despite his many claims about his tormented relationship with the Firm, Harry insisted that he “100 per cent” believes that the tensions in the family can be smoothed over.

Harry, 38, claimed there were “25 versions” of the story where it was reported that Meghan Markle made his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, cry.

It was widely reported that Meghan had made Kate Middleton cry over an argument over bridesmaids’s dresses around the time of her wedding to Harry.

However, in his memoir, Harry claims it was his wife who was left in tears and that Kate visited the following day to apologise.

Questioned on why the story was never corrected, Prince Harry said: “It’s a question for them. They were more than happy to put out statements for less volatile things.”

Harry recounts ‘horrible reaction from my family’ after queen died

Prince Harry reflected on the “horrible reaction” he alleges he received from the royal family when he was reunited with them after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The duke said that the day Britain’s longest-reigning monarch died “was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members”.

“I was like ‘We’re here to celebrate the life of granny and to mourn her loss, can we come together as a family?’ but I don’t know how we collectively – how we change that,” he said.

Duke’s fears for his family’s safety

Harry claimed that one of the main reasons he left the UK with Meghan to start a new life in Los Angeles was due to concerns surrounding their personal safety.

Citing the death of his mother, Diana, Harry said he didn’t want to be “a single dad” like his father, implying he was concerned history would repeat itself if he and Meghan stayed in the UK where they would continue to be hounded by the media.

“I don’t want history to repeat itself. I do not want to be a single dad. And I certainly don’t want my children to have a life without a mother or a father,” he said.

Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior members of the royal family in March 2020, and relocated to Montecito, California in the United States.

He believes the royal rift can be healed

Despite his many claims about his tormented relationship with the Firm, Harry insisted that he “100 per cent” believes that the tensions in the family can be smoothed over.