The great and the good of the world descended on Davos in Switzerland for their annual love-in high in the mountains last month. Sage sound bites rolled off the tongues of prime ministers, titans of industry and commentators, cascading down the Alps like an avalanche of strategy.
Some provided a master-class in stating the obvious. Asked what he would be telling investors sceptical of investing in his country, Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister of Russia, said simply: "I’m going to tell them to come to Russia and invest in it."
That ought to persuade them.
UK prime minister David Cameron did his best to outdo Medvedev by responding to a question about what the prospect of a British exit from the EU would do by saying that the arguments for investing in the UK remain the same. He did also point out, spectacularly unhelpfully, that "of course all paths that you take have risks". That alone must have been worth the entry fee, arduous journey and shared hotel rooms for the other delegates.