CURRENT AFFAIRS
the cause of new lamentation about “uncertainty” despite the fact
that there is no evidence yet that the changes will harm business. In
any event, the record here shows that change is always negotiated
so business always has an opportunity to say what it thinks once the
details are published.
Democracies are environments in which many voices are heard.
Politicians in democracies cannot be expected to silence voices.
Business needs to judge democratic governments on what they do,
not on whether everyone expresses business-friendly sentiments.
Business strategy would be more effective if more attention was
given to understanding government, making businesses better able
to know real threats from the illusions, than to hoping in vain that
politicians will say only what businesses want to hear.
pay freeze for a year by government and business leaders is trashed
as a drain on the fiscus.
This is not an ideological point. In many market economies,
business leadership is careful to practice restraint in earnings and
consumption to retain society’s confidence. It is hard to see us
progressing economically if this does not begin here.
ACCEPTING COMPROMISE
These are but two examples of a broader point often lost in our
debate: negotiation does not mean getting the other interests to
endorse what you want, it means meeting them halfway, and that
means looking at our flaws as well as theirs.
We are told, repeatedly, that business should protect its interests
by being more vocal in its criticism of government (and, presumably,
labour). Business, like any other interest, has a right to say what it
RECOGNISING REALITY: TAKING POVERTY
wants. But that is only half the story. Listening to and understanding
AND INEQUALITY SERIOUSLY
the other side’s position is equally important. Government, for all its
It is difficult to talk seriously about our economic challenges if we
flaws, is subject to pressures which business does not face, such as
do not take poverty and inequ