Financial Times 27Feb2020

10 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 27 February 2020

Unskilled labour shortage

need not be a problem

The UK’s new immigration

requirements are unlikely to lead to an

unskilled labour crisis as Bronwen

Maddox predicts (“Britain could hurt

its prospects by being inflexible on

immigration”, February 22). The new

policy is of course based on a similar

approach in Australia, a country that

has higher per capita immigration than

the UK. There, businesses have learnt

to adjust. Unskilled jobs are paid more,

but employees are noticeably required

to take more responsibility; that is,

they are more productive. Further,

special visa categories exist to attract

seasonal workers.

However, the largest pathway for

unskilled workers is through the

vocational education system. A study

programme that leads to an Australian

qualification in a skills shortage area

allows the student to remain and work

in Australia. It is not a sustainable

proposition for the economy to

continue to rely on low-cost, low-

skilled labour. Business will need to

adjust, wages will rise, as will

productivity and gross domestic

product per capita.

Scott Flavell

Partner, Energy and Utilities,

Sia Partners,

London EC1, UK

Women on banknotes

send a powerful message

We recently saw the unveiling of the

new £20 banknote featuring the image

of JMW Turner’s painting “The

Fighting Temeraire”, which Snapchat

users can bring to life through an

augmented reality lens. While I cannot

fault the Bank of England for trying to

appeal to a younger audience, the

concern over the lack of female

representation on UK banknotes

remains. In a society where gender

equality is dominating headlines, it

seems that the BoE has missed an

obvious opportunity to push the

discussion forward to the population

and encourage a positive change. More

often than not, it falls on women to

bring about gender equality change,

but we should be looking at creative

ways to drive equality and have female

representation as the norm.

Having a highly recognised

institution like the BoE celebrate well-

known female achievements would

have made the £20 note less of a

gimmick with the Snapchat feature,

but a piece of legal tender, backed by

the UK’s central bank, that brought

greater awareness of the role women

have played in British history.

There are only 59 named women on

the most common banknotes in the

world. This needs to change. We should

be finding ways to position successful

females as role models, and having

well-known figureheads in our physical

wallets will always remind us of what

we can achieve. Having more women

on banknotes will not only celebrate

their achievements but also make

younger generations, both boys and

girls, aware of their contributions to

society.

Olga Kravchenko

Co-founder and Chief Executive,

Musemio,

London SE1, UK

Sky Women in Technology Scholar

Get robots into the fields

as quickly as possible

A lot of hype surrounds robotic and

digital applications in agriculture due

to their potential to improve

production efficiency (“Winemakers

tackle climate change and labour

shortages with tech”, February 25).

However, while vineyards may use

them to make marginal gains, the

British agricultural industry may soon

need them to keep running.

It is no secret that UK farmers are

struggling. It is harder than ever to

source manual labour for harvests,

operational costs are constantly rising,

and crops are being relentlessly

destroyed by the inclement weather.

With agriculture businesses struggling

at an extraordinary rate, something

must be done to improve the industry’s

efficiency.

Large-scale adoption of robotic

applications for agriculture has the

potential to solve a variety of issues

facing British agriculture, with some

farm robots being able to carry out the

work of 30 human workers. Unbiased

robot systems running on data will

reduce production costs by using only

the required amount of fertilisers and

could potentially remove the need for

pesticides. Research predicts that

agritech could add more than £9.8bn to

the industry by 2022.

However, to make sure that these

robots are up to the task, development

and investment must start now. We are

seeing growth in the number of

agricultural motors and gearboxes that

we are creating for clients. But, frankly,

it is not enough. More aggressive

implementation of agricultural robots

is needed to ensure British agriculture

is not left by the wayside. If we want to

continue enjoying British culinary

delicacies, we must be ready to deploy

robots into the fields as soon as

possible.

Stewart Goulding

Managing Director,

Electro Mechanical Systems,

Poole, Dorset, UK

Sanders is attempting

to take his party back

Historian Howard Zinn identified the

two major untruths Americans learn

about their country as: first, the US

always acts altruistically overseas;

second, there is no class struggle. With

regard to the latter, I can understand

why Steve Buttigieg might call Senator

Bernie Sanders’ attempt to mobilise the

Democratic party to reclaim its historic

position as the party of the working

person as an attempt to “destroy” it.

What dismays me is that Edward

Luce calls the Sanders effort a “hostile

takeover” of the party (“Showdown

unlikely to have happy ending for

Democrats”, Global Insight, February

21). The hostile takeover of the party

happened decades ago. This is an

attempt to take it back.

David Jodrey

Montgomery Village, MD, US

Crashing and burning

Mike Pugh (Letters, February 25)

rightly points out that a “career” is by

definition going downhill. He might

have added that a “meteoric” career is

one that plunges headlong to earth,

burning up in the process.

Guy Morton

Huntingdon, Cambs, UK

Former US President George W Bush

had his beloved Prairie Chapel ranch

— the sprawling, remote Texas estate,

once dubbed the “Western White

House” where he hosted global leaders

for tie-free informal meetings and

outdoor activities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

invites his international visitors to the

Black Sea resort town of Sochi, once a

swampy coastal plain populated by

migratory birds, now transformed

into a glittering, luxury getaway spot

with high-end hotels and world-class

infrastructure.

President Donald Trump’s go-to

spot is Mar-a-Lago, his opulent,

members only golf club in Palm

Beach, Florida, where he still spends

much of his leisure time. There he has

hosted Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime

minister, and China’s President Xi

Jinping.

When Prime Minister Narendra

Modi wants to spend quality time with

global leaders, he makes a beeline for

his political hometown, Ahmedabad, a

bustling hub of India’s traditional

merchant class — and the city that

served as his personal springboard to

national power. It was while living in

Ahmedabad for 13 years — and

serving as chief minister of the state of

Gujarat — that Mr Modi forged his

reputation as a hardline Hindu

strongman, apparently indifferent to

the state’s 2002 riots in which more

than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims,

were killed.

Before he became premier in 2014,

international leaders looking beyond

New Delhi — and a quick photo stop at

the Taj Mahal — typically visited cities

more symbolic of India’s economic

progress and strengthening ties to the

global economy: its financial capital,

Mumbai, and dynamic southern tech

hubs, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Ahmedabad — once central to the

life of revered independence leader,

and non-violence advocate, Mahatma

Gandhi — is not on the itineraries of

typical foreign tourists either. Its main

attractions, including the Sabarmati

ashram, where Gandhi planned key

campaigns of the anti-colonial

struggle, are low key compared with

the forts, palaces and religious sites

elsewhere. Vegetarianism is pervasive

and prohibition is in force, though

visitors can obtain a “liquor permit”.

Ahmedabad’s international image

suffered after the 2002 riots, when

hundreds of the city’s Muslims,

including residents of middle-class

housing complexes, were killed by

Hindu mobs. Police did little stop the

bloodshed. Today, the city remains

highly segregated; many Muslims still

live in a large, squalid ghetto where

they sought refuge during the riots.

Despite this, Mr Modi has managed

to put Ahmedabad back on the global

political map as an important stop for

international leaders courting India.

Mr Xi was the first to visit, just

months after Mr Modi was sworn in.

The two leaders sat together on a

traditional Indian swing on the banks

of the Sabarmati river, discussing how

to increase Chinese investment in

India. Unfortunately, the mood of

goodwill soured quickly: hundreds of

Chinese troops crossed the disputed

India-China border during the visit,

marking the start of a three-year

downward spiral in relations.

Mr Abe’s visit was more successful.

He visited Gandhi’s ashram and a

centuries-old mosque, tasted

traditional Gujarati food in a stunning

heritage hotel, and stood shoulder to

shoulder with Mr Modi in an open-top

vehicle parading 8km through city

streets lined with cheering crowds.

Indo-Japanese ties have flourished.

This week, Mr Trump followed in

their footsteps, stopping in

Ahmedabad on a 36-hour visit to

India. He made a perfunctory call at

the ashram but the high point was his

appearance at the world’s largest

cricket stadium, where he addressed a

cheering crowd of at least 110,000.

In New Delhi the next day, Mr

Trump described the Ahmedabad

rally as “an incredible scene” with no

precedent. “Nobody that ever came

here got the kind of reception that we

got,” he said.

Just a few miles away from where he

was speaking, a Muslim-dominated,

working-class neighbourhood was

being shaken by the worst sectarian

violence the city has seen in decades.

Marauding mobs roamed virtually

unchecked, killing at least 20 and

setting fire to shops, vehicles and a

mosque. These echoes seem harder

for world leaders to hear than the

cheers.

[email protected]

Modi woos world

leaders in a

city haunted

by violence

Ahmedabad

Notebook

by Amy Kazmin

Martin Wolf’s excellent column “Last

chance for the climate transition”

(February 19) focuses on the required

energy transition, but overlooks one

other critical means of addressing the

climate emergency: a wholesale effort

to protect and restore the natural

world, on land as well as in the ocean.

This would be a major climate

change mitigation win: land use,

agriculture and the food system

account for between 25 and 40 per cent

of all greenhouse gas emissions,

depending on how one accounts for

methane emissions from agriculture.

But it is also good economics. Each

year, according to the OECD, countries

support their agricultural sectors to

the tune of at least $700bn in the form

of mostly perverse subsidies and

support mechanisms to the food

system. These lead to massive health

costs, in terms of malnutrition and

obesity, as well as vast environmental

externalities — deforestation,

ecosystem loss, fertiliser run-off,

eutrophication. The same applies to

overfishing in the ocean, enabled by

fuel subsidies to fishermen.

So-called “nature-based solutions” to

the climate crisis — such as protecting

forests and critical ecosystems,

restoring degraded land, and ensuring

better governance of the high seas —

are among the most powerful tools we

have in shaping the global response so

urgently needed. They deliver climate

mitigation and adaptation, carbon

sequestration, better rural livelihoods,

biodiversity protection, improved

health outcomes and greater food

security. They also connect deeply with

people and communities across the

planet.

Put simply, “nature-based solutions”

are the other indispensable, often

forgotten means of securing the

climate transition the world needs.

And this year — at the UN meetings on

biodiversity in Kunming and on

climate in Glasgow — we hope they will

receive the political attention, business

investment and financial support they

deserve.

Jeremy Oppenheim

Global Principal,

Food and Land Use Coalition

Put nature at the heart of climate solutions

Letters

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OPINION ON FT.COM

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The country is trapped in a crisis that could

unravel social bonds, saysDavid Gardner

http://www.ft.com/opinion

‘We’ve given up the truth for Lent’

Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, David
Cameron: recent British political his-
tory is not short of examples of prime
ministers who came to office believing
the civil service and its top mandarins
needed a shake-up to support their
modernising vision. Armed with a solid
majority and an ambitious agenda of
making Brexit a success and “levelling
up” the UK, Boris Johnson and his chief
aide Dominic Cummings have
launched their own attempt to bend
Whitehall to their will. Their heavy-
handed approach so far, however, risks
fostering not efficiency but instability.
The UK civil service is widely
admired for its impartiality and profes-
sionalism. It is also, some ex-ministers
and insiders say, not accountable
enough for its failures and overly hier-
archical. Its status as a permanent
bureaucracy can lead to a sense of
superiority over here-today, gone-to-
morrow ministers and advisers.
Mr Cummings has two goals. He aims
to lead a powerful administration from
Number 10 Downing Street whose writ
runs across government. That means
bringing to heel the senior civil serv-
ants who head Whitehall departments
and the special advisers, or “spads”,
hired by ministers to help shape policy.
As a fan of Silicon Valley’s disruptive
ethos, he also wants to bring freethink-
ing “weirdos and misfits” into govern-
ment to help it confront rapid social
and technological change.
Where Team Johnson’s approach dif-
fers from that of predecessors is in the
climate of fear it is creating. Unattrib-
uted media briefings have named indi-
vidual officials at the Treasury, Home
Office and Foreign Office as being on a
“shitlist”. Such talk undercuts officials’
ability to run their departments. Civil
servants must be able to disagree with
their political masters without fear of
reprisals. Since some of the individuals
or departments named have been

accused of opposing Brexit, there is an

element, too, of tribal retribution.

Tensions burst into the open with

the loss of Sajid Javid as chancellor

of the exchequer in a mishandled

reshuffle. Mr Javid refused to allow his

advisers to be replaced by a “joint”

team with Number 10. He was right

to say on Wednesday this was “not in

the national interest”. Extending a

quote from Thatcher, Mr Javid added:

“Advisers advise, ministers decide, and

ministers decide on their advisers.”

Then came the trench warfare

between home secretary Priti Patel and

her permanent secretary, one of those

anonymously identified as being in

Downing Street’s sights. Mark Sedwill,

head of the civil service, wrote a finely

crafted letter urging civil servants,

ministers and, implicitly, Number 10 to

stick to established codes of conduct.

Efforts by the Cummings team to

bring in unconventional minds as “con-

tractors” also risk undermining the

civil service. One, Andrew Sabisky,

resigned this month after only a few

days in Number 10 when extreme com-

ments he had made on race, gender

and eugenics came to light. Though he

attended meetings with Mr Johnson,

Downing Street declined to confirm

how Mr Sabisky was hired or whether

he underwent security checks.

Governments have every right to

reform the civil service, but the aim

should be genuine improvements in

management, not over-centralisation.

Downing Street must also recognise

it has a crucial role to play in choosing

ministers based on talent and skills, not

on subservience, and giving them time

to deliver. Even after a reshuffle, Mr

Johnson’s cabinet still looks like one

chosen mostly for its loyalty and Leave-

supporting credentials. Accomplishing

a bold agenda requires an effective

state bureaucracy. But it needs political

leadership that is fit for purpose, too.

An impartial and professional civil service is one of the UK’s strengths

Johnson should handle

Whitehall with care

There is no good moment for an out-
break of a deadly virus to reach your
country. For Italy, however, the new
strain of coronavirus has arrived at a
particularly difficult time. The euro-
zone’s third-largest economy was
already contracting at the end of 2019.
Necessary attempts to protect public
health by quarantining the sick and
closing businesses now risk pushing
the country into its fourth recession
since the aftermath of the 2008 crisis.
The outbreak in the wealthy regions
of Veneto and Lombardy in northern
Italy has become the largest in the
western world. In response, the gov-
ernment has taken the sensible step of
quarantining 11 towns. In Milan, the
financial and business capital, schools,
offices and tourist attractions have
been closed. The southern region of
Basilicata has closed its borders to
those from many northern regions.
Shutdowns and travel restrictions
strike at the supply chains that are at
the core of the modern economy.
Unfortunately for Italy, the outbreak is
centred on the high-productivity
northern areas that are embedded into
European supply chains, providing
vital components to German factories.
Exports have been the one source of
growth in Italy since 2008 — not only
engineering but also luxury food and
fashion, which are already suffering
from declining Chinese demand. Tour-
ism will be hit, too.
Attempts to contain the virus may be
the immediate problem, but Italy’s
economic weakness is longstanding.
Average annual growth per head since
the turn of the millennium has been
virtually zero. Many in Italy blame the
stagnation on the lack of an autono-
mous central bank and its own
currency: the euro has prevented Italy
from a depreciation that could help
restore competitiveness.
Yet the problems run much deeper.

The private sector has invested little in

information technology and remains

dominated by small and midsized fam-

ily companies. Education lags behind

many European peers: only 28 per cent

of Italians aged 25 to 34 have a univer-

sity degree, compared with 41 per cent

in France and 32 per cent in Germany.

The legal system and bureaucracy

remain sclerotic.

High public debt makes it hard for

Italy to address these problems by

using public spending to offset the pain

of labour market reforms. The euro

has, however, helped reduce Italy’s

debt costs. The yield on a 10-year Ital-

ian bond is now just 0.99 per cent.

Fiscal policy can do little to prevent

the kind of shock to productive capac-

ity caused by the virus shutdown. Gov-

ernment spending, however, can pro-

vide an alternative source of demand

for businesses and employment for

those who need support. Brussels must

extend the flexibility on budget rules

Rome has requested to allow it to cope.

The European Central Bank should

also monitor the situation closely.

Looser monetary policy and interest

rate cuts can help businesses which

need cheap finance to cope with dis-

ruption and cancelled contracts.

The European Commission’s latest

analysis of the country calls for “pru-

dent fiscal policies” and targeted

investment to raise productivity. It

would be a mistake to put too much

emphasis on the former for now. Italy

needs space to cope with what is a chal-

lenge for all of Europe. If that means

running a bigger budget deficit, so be it.

The biggest risk would be not to con-

tain the virus. That would hit Italy

twice, as the shutdown reduces domes-

tic and tourist spending while quaran-

tines elsewhere, such as in Germany,

cut export demand. Hunkering down

may be bad for the economy in the

short term, but it is still the best policy.

Brussels should relax fiscal rules to help Rome deal with the outbreak

Italy needs support to

cope with coronavirus

Chinese counterfeiting is

widespread and dangerous

There are heightened dangers to US

and European consumers if a candidate

from China becomes the leader of the

UN World Intellectual Property

Organisation (“Don’t give Beijing

control of intellectual property group”,

Peter Navarro, February 23).

On January 24, the US Department of

Homeland Security documented that

counterfeiting has become so

widespread that it now includes

products where safety is paramount,

such as car brakes, seat belts, airbags,

bike helmets and medications. In

addition, the US Government

Accountability Office has found that

among counterfeit iPhone adaptors,

99 per cent failed fire, safety and shock

tests. Some 12 per cent posed a risk of

lethal electrocution.

The US and EU should work closely

to pressure China into cracking down

on its dangerous and widespread

counterfeiting operations. This

problem goes well beyond jobs and

protecting legitimate businesses,

important as those issues are.

Paul Steidler

Senior Fellow,

Lexington Institute,

Arlington, VA, US

A fine mechanical watch

will outlive its owner

As chief executive of Breitling, I read

John Thornhill’s engaging column

“Smartwatches call time on the Swiss

industry” (February 18) with interest.

The ears of everyone closely involved

with the production of Swiss

mechanical watches perk up each time

the “horsewhip makers in the age of

the motor car” analogy is used to signal

the end of our industry.

A fine mechanical watch will

probably outlast its owner (who,

thanks to the medical monitoring

provided by their second watch — a

“smartwatch” — could live for a very

long time indeed). Mechanical watches

are ecologically sound: there’s not only

the longevity but the fact that they are

powered by gravity and the movement

of the wearer — renewable energy for

as long as you’re on the planet!

There’s no doubt that smartwatches

and fine mechanical watches can

coexist in blissful harmony. One is a

commodity and is ultimately

disposable. The other is all about

dreams and aspirations and is made to

perform brilliantly for generations.

Admit it: you know which is which.

Comparing the two is not unlike

comparing a poster to a fine piece of art

— each has its rightful place on the wall

but one is interchangeable and

transitory while the other inspires

poetry and lasts forever. Or better yet,

think about Coca-Cola and Château

Lafite — you’re happy to have both in

the house but one is the more likely

choice for a celebration!

We’re thrilled to have so many

younger customers who, though they

are digital natives, embrace our

analogue products. Breitling is proud to

offer, in effect, a digital detox.

Georges Kern

CEO, Breitling,

Grenchen, Switzerland

FEBRUARY 27 2020 Section:Features Time: 26/2/2020 - 18: 48 User: alistair.hayes Page Name: LEADER USA, Part,Page,Edition: USA, 10, 1