Davos 07: Time for Business

The International Herald Tribune - the daily journal for Davos Man - has a report from here on its front page about global leaders recognising the need for stronger multilateral institutions as the world becomes more vulnerable to climate change, bird flu, terrorism and so on. However it's some of the other news items which point strongly to the timliness of this year's theme "The Shifting Power Equation". "Sun may be setting on Silicon Valley Supremacy" runs one headline reporting on the growth of European high tech innovation. And even "Macao outstrips Vegas as top gambling centre" reflecting the rise of the east. There's a strong sense of tectonic plates shifting. As Klaus Schwab, who runs the World Economic Forum, says: "power is shifting from the centre to the periphery and from the top to the bottom". So no time for Hollywood celebrities this year (no Brad and Angelina or Sharon Stone as in the past - although Bobo still slips in). It's time to get serious seems to be the message.