Britain and the world needs to find a way out of economic woe – but don’t expect Davos to help

Oxfam calls for redistribution while the Centre for Policy Studies outlines the ‘moral case for growth’. We need both. But the elite gathering in Switzerland is divorced from the problems, argues James Moore

People gather in the Davos Congress Centre prior to the start of the World Economic Forum (AP)

It is grey and miserable outside, the deadline to file your tax return is fast approaching, and so are inflation-fattened bills for the festive season. Meanwhile, the rich and business-savvy have jumped in their private jets to attend a talking shop at a picturesque Swiss ski resort.

Yes, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is underway. Do you like to ski? Best avoid the place. There will be enough crocodile tears shed over the state of the world created by those in attendance to melt all the snow in Switzerland.

As it usually does, Oxfam fired a broadside at the event’s attendees with a missive railing against the grotesque levels of inequality blighting the world. It wants to see taxes imposed on wealth and the wealthy; the billionaires who seem to end up smiling however poisonous the economic backdrop.