November 27, 2007
As everyone knows, there was only one event to be at this week - but after being thrown out of the Oxford University freedom of speech debate, Guru made do with visiting the CBI's annual conference in Islington.
And what a contrast the two events provided. At one, scruffily dressed people made feeble protests against men who run shameful political parties and publish damaging lies. Meanwhile, at Oxford...
Ah well, Guru never really expected Gordon Brown or David Cameron to receive the kind of barracking they get in Parliament. But the only moment of real audience passion seemed to come from the pig farmer who called for Alistair Darling's resignation.
A year ago British Airways chairman Martin Broughton took Tony Blair to task over his government's criticism of the airline's much publicised decision to suspend check-in worker Nadia Eweida for wearing a Christian cross over her uniform.
Blair's reaction was akin to indulging a naughty schoolboy and, as CBI president, Broughton thought a lot better of such confrontation this year.
Still, Guru supposes it is good that business leaders are getting the ear of politicians, even if they are mainly whispering sweet nothings into them.
One last thing though - where were all the HR directors in Islington? The prime minister spent at least half of his speech talking about skills, training and welfare reforms yet it only seemed to be financial directors and chief execs listening.
One senior HR professional Guru did bump into echoed these sentiments. "HR needs to get out of the office," he said. "Find out what business leaders are talking about."
Well... maybe all the HR attendees were disguised as pig farmers from Peterborough - or perhaps they were having more fun dressed as students in Oxford.
