{"id":431961,"date":"2026-01-23T10:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T10:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431961\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T10:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T10:14:10","slug":"friday-briefing-what-the-mood-at-davos-can-tell-us-about-a-changing-world-order-davos-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431961\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday briefing: What the mood at Davos can tell us about a changing world order | Davos 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. The annual gathering of political and business leaders in Davos opened against a backdrop of war, trade threats and a rapidly fraying global order \u2013 with the World Economic Forum<\/a> once again struggling to reconcile its talk of cooperation with the realities of great-power confrontation.<\/p>\n

Above all, one figure has dominated the week more than any theme or panel discussion \u2013 Donald Trump<\/a>. He appears to have been determined to use the Alpine summit as a stage for his own vision of how the world should work.<\/p>\n

For today\u2019s newsletter I spoke to the Guardian\u2019s economics editor, Heather Stewart, who has spent the week in Davos, to find out what the mood was on the ground at an event that the US president appeared to be using as a personal publicity stunt. First, though, here are the headlines.<\/p>\n

Five big stories<\/p>\n

Davos | Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken aim at Europe in a fiery speech at Davos, accusing leaders of being in \u201cGreenland mode\u201d<\/a> as they waited for leadership from Donald Trump on Ukraine and other geopolitical crises rather than taking action themselves. The day ended with news of trilateral talks to start on Friday<\/a> in Abu Dhabi between the US, Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

UK news | The UK government borrowed less than expected in December,<\/a> official figures show, after record-breaking receipts, giving a boost to the chancellor.<\/p>\n

Daily Mail | Elizabeth Hurley has accused the publisher of the Daily Mail of bugging her windowsill<\/a> as well as using information obtained from tapping her landline as she gave emotional evidence at the high court.<\/p>\n

Climate crisis | Human-caused global heating made the intense heatwave that affected much of Australia in early January five times more likely<\/a>, new analysis suggests.<\/p>\n

Immigration | Prosecutors were stunned to learn that federal immigration authorities allowed a suspect in a $100m jewellery heist<\/a>, believed to be the largest in US history, to self-deport to South America.<\/p>\n

In depth: The old world order \u2018swept away\u2019Mark Carney meets with Emmanuel Macron as they attend the World Economic Forum in Davos. Photograph: Sean Kilpatrick\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels very busy. The restaurants feel very busy. The roads are absolutely jammed. It has always been busy, but it is probably even more crowded this year,\u201d Heather tells me.<\/p>\n

This is the third time she has attended the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum \u2013 first in 2013, then again last year \u2013 and she says the changes over that period are striking. The forum was once a symbol of a stable, rules-based global trading system, dominated by a relatively small group of countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat order, the trading system as it was, with rich and powerful countries controlling the rules, that\u2019s kind of gone,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s been swept away.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is not entirely down to Trump, although he looms large over this year\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

The Trump effect<\/p>\n

Rather like Miley Cyrus, Trump came in like a wrecking ball. Yesterday the morning schedule was simply cleared to allow the US president to unveil his new \u201cboard of peace\u201d<\/a> \u2013 a lengthy, unscheduled event featuring a lineup of allies, but notably none of the G7 nations.<\/p>\n

Trump has overshadowed almost everything else at Davos \u2013 with the conference also providing a useful platform for him to continue and escalate his rhetoric about Greenland, and his need to \u201cdefend it<\/a>\u201d. Even those deeply sceptical of him wanted to be in the room when he spoke, Heather tells me. \u201cIt\u2019s a compelling spectacle,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople who aren\u2019t necessarily fans still want to be there because it feels historic.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his analysis of Trump\u2019s speech<\/a> earlier in the week, my Washington colleague David Smith described parts of it as \u201cpure racism\u201d. The US president went on a rambling diatribe against Somalia and outlined what Smith said was Trump\u2019s racially motivated \u201cinsidious and sinister project\u201d to portray himself as \u201cthe great white hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farage in Davos<\/p>\n

The WEF, which organises and hosts Davos, has long been a bogeyman of the populist and anti-globalist right. Danish politician Ida Auken\u2019s speculative thinkpiece<\/a> for the organisation in 2016 which included the phrase \u201cYou\u2019ll own nothing and you\u2019ll be happy\u201d has been repeatedly cited as evidence that the WEF aims to act like a world government bringing in global socialism.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Nigel Farage derided Keir Starmer as a \u201cfull-on globalist, hanging out with his mates at the WEF\u201d for attending. Yet this year Farage himself was among the roll-call<\/a> of attenders, putting out a video to supporters to justify his appearance. \u201cMy message to Davos is simple,\u201d he said. \u201cYou guys, the globalists, have had it your way for far too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heather saw Farage speak at an event and says his argument \u2013 that Davos itself has changed \u2013 is not entirely wrong. \u201cGlobalisation hasn\u2019t suddenly evaporated overnight,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it has been eroded and undermined for quite a long time.\u201d Conversations about tariffs, economic nationalism and sovereignty, once marginal here, are now everywhere.<\/p>\n

Davos isn\u2019t entirely about politics<\/p>\n

Davos, Heather stresses, is not only about speeches by world leaders. Away from the headline events, there is still a packed programme of panels on artificial intelligence, the future of work, technology and global growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be a place to exchange ideas, business cards and do deals,\u201d she says \u2013 and all of that is still happening. But this year, she adds, it has unmistakably been a geopolitics-first gathering.<\/p>\n

At one point during our call she casually name-drops the people walking past her: the UK\u2019s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell and the chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that kind of place,\u201d she says. \u201cYou just spot people like Rishi Sunak wandering around. And there are lots of spontaneous conversations \u2013 most of them, obviously, about Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day of resistance<\/p>\n

If Trump dominated the week, Heather says there was also a moment of pushback. On Tuesday \u2013 after his weekend threat to use tariffs to force allies to back US ambitions over Greenland<\/a> \u2013 it felt as if a \u201cday of resistance\u201d was taking shape ahead of his delayed arrival.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s prime minister, Mark Carney, cut through with a speech \u2013 there is a transcript here<\/a> \u2013 arguing that the old rules-based international order was always partly a fiction and has now definitively collapsed. Pretending it will simply re-emerge, he warned, leaves countries vulnerable to coercion. Instead, so-called middle powers need to build new, flexible alliances or risk being \u201con the menu\u201d.<\/p>\n

As Heather puts it: \u201cWe can\u2019t all just sit around waiting for another flavour of US president to show up and then go back to how things were. So much has been blown up. You can\u2019t put the genie back in the bottle.\u201d<\/p>\n

She notes that Emmanuel Macron struck a similar note to Carney in his speech<\/a>, saying there was a \u201cshift towards a world without effective collective governance where multilateralism is weakened by powers that obstruct it\u201d. What shocked many European leaders, Heather says, was not just the threat itself, but how openly economic power was being used to bludgeon other countries into line.<\/p>\n

What Davos tells us now<\/p>\n

Davos remains an odd, intensely hierarchical bubble \u2013 a place where access is everything, badges matter, and the world\u2019s elite briefly cluster in one snowy town. But this year, Heather says, it has also felt unusually alive, precisely because so much feels unsettled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it the start of a resistance?\u201d she wonders. \u201cOr is it just acceptance that there\u2019s a new reality? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the moment, it feels like it might be a front row seat to a messier international future.<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019ve been readingA Tapanuli orangutan. Photograph: Nature Picture Library\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Gloria Dickie reports<\/a> that Indonesia is to take action against mining firms after floods devastated the population of the world\u2019s rarest ape \u2013 the Tapanuli orangutan. Martin<\/p>\n

The Guardian has been charting the fallout of Donald Trump\u2019s second term in words and this piece<\/a> smartly shows how some of the clearest truths emerge through charts and graphs. Aamna Mohdin, newsletters team<\/p>\n

Alex Peters reports for Dazed<\/a> on the extraordinary sounding performance art by Tilda Mace in which she appears to cut someone open live on stage, recalling the transgressive acts of Leigh Bowery. Martin<\/p>\n

Stuart Heritage makes a compelling argument<\/a> for why Nigella Lawson, who is rumoured to be the next Great British Bake Off judge, should get the job. Aamna<\/p>\n

A lovely in-depth view<\/a> of the undersung art of prop-making for the movie business, which includes a fantastic anecdote about accidentally setting off a nuclear missile crisis. Martin<\/p>\n

SportSri Lanka\u2019s Kusal Mendis stumps England\u2019s captain Harry Brook for six in Colombo. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena\/AP<\/p>\n

Cricket | England fell short in their run chase after Sri Lanka made 271 for six, ending up 252 all out<\/a> to lose the opening one-day international in Colombo by 19 runs.<\/p>\n

Australian Open | On day six in Melbourne<\/a>, women\u2019s number one Aryna Sabalenka has defeated Anastasia Potapova. The men\u2019s number one, Carlos Alcaraz, defeated Corentin Moutet<\/a> to advance. Earlier, Naomi Osaka was a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 winner over Sorana Cirstea, but tempers frayed at the end of the match<\/a> when the Romanian accused the American of unfair play with her self-motivational shouting.<\/p>\n

Football | Why are goalless draws on the rise in the Premier League<\/a> this season? David Segar investigates. Aston Villa, meanwhile, sealed a top-eight finish<\/a> in the Europa League as Nottingham Forest crashed to defeat<\/a> at Braga.<\/p>\n

Something for the weekend<\/p>\n

Our critics\u2019 roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now<\/p>\n

\u2018The most incredible wardrobe\u2019 \u2026 Isabella Rossellini as Franny Forst in The Beauty. Photograph: Philippe Antonello\/FX<\/p>\n

TV
The Beauty | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n

In comparison to his last screen offering, the existentially terrible All\u2019s Fair, Ryan Murphy\u2019s new show is a triumph; it has a plot, structure, characters that often speak like real human beings, and even a touch of commentary on the state of society today. The 11-part body horror series (be prepared for gore) follows FBI agents Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall) and Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) as they investigate the spread of a sexually transmitted disease that makes infected parties spectacularly beautiful and then spectacularly dead. Lucy Mangan<\/p>\n

Music
Megadeth: Megadeth | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n

Megadeth\u2019s self-titled final studio album offers listeners a career-summarising redux. Some tracks underline their position as thrash metal progenitors, most notably the superb opener Tipping Point. On I Don\u2019t Care, you get the punkish leanings that led Megadeth to cover Anarchy in the UK in 1988. More surprisingly, there are tracks rooted in the more melodic style the band controversially pursued in the mid-to-late 90s. All of it is performed with the kind of technical precision for which Megadeth have long been famed. Alexis Petridis<\/p>\n

Film
No Other Choice | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n

In Korean director Park Chan-wook\u2019s new film, You Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) has been made redundant from the paper factory where he works. Devastated, and desperate to reclaim his manhood in the eyes of his wife and children by getting a new job before his severance pay runs out, a brilliant idea occurs to him. He sets up a phoney recruitment ad in a paper industry trade magazine and, using the personal information that these trusting applicants will send him, plans to murder them all, creating a string of job vacancies. An effortlessly fluent portrait of family dysfunction, fragile masculinity, and the state of the nation itself. Peter Bradshaw<\/p>\n

Art
Crossing into Darkness, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n

Tracey Emin curates this generous exhibition, setting artists she nurtures at the Emin Studios alongside Edvard Munch, Louise Bourgeois and other luminaries of modern art \u2013 if luminary is the right word in this stygian setting; the gallery has been plunged into nocturnal shadow. It begins with a concrete waistcoat by Antony Gormley. Munch gazes like a numbed, ragged pair of claws from his 1895 self-portrait, with a skeletal arm. The photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd captures eerie mists over icy still waters. Emin\u2019s exhibition, she says, recognises the dark times we are in but also offers solace. There is hope in darkness. It is where you have to go to start again. Jonathan Jones<\/p>\n

The front pages<\/p>\n

\u201cStand up for yourselves, Zelenskyy tells Europe in fiery Davos speech\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the Guardian. \u201cGaza or gaga?\u201d \u2013 the Metro delves into \u201cTrump\u2019s glitzy Middle East tourist vision\u201d. The Times runs with \u201cStarmer\u2019s allies to bar the return of Burnham\u201d, the i paper has \u201cOperation Stop Burnham: PM\u2019s allies try to block return of his rival\u201d and the Mail latches on as well with \u201cDoes Andy Burnham have the bottle?\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times splashes on \u201cMusk\u2019s SpaceX meets big Wall Street banks to line up record-breaking IPO\u201d. \u201cShameful\u201d \u2013 the Mirror brands it an \u201cinsult to the fallen\u201d after Trump suggested other Nato countries stayed away from the frontline in Afghanistan, when they lost hundreds dead there. The Express embarks on a \u201ccrusade\u201d with \u201cBritain needs better care for cancer patients\u201d. \u201c4.5m to be denied vote as more polls axed\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s in the Telegraph about delayed local elections.<\/p>\n

Today in Focus Photograph: @Nigel_Farage<\/p>\n

Why are so many Tories joining Reform?<\/p>\n

There have been a slew of defections<\/a> as Reform rides high in the polls. But is it changing the party? Peter Walker reports<\/p>\n

Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings Illustration: Ben Jennings\/The GuardianThe Upside<\/p>\n

A bit of good news to remind you that the world\u2019s not all bad<\/p>\n

Terminal 2 of Kempegowda international airport in India has a bamboo ceiling and pillars. Photograph: MOSO Bamboo<\/p>\n

Engineers are urging architects to embrace bamboo<\/a> as a serious, low-carbon building material, challenging steel and concrete. The Institution of Structural Engineers has published a manual to encourage its use in permanent structures.<\/p>\n

Bamboo has already been used in large-scale, innovative projects globally, including the ceiling of Bengaluru airport, a 20-metre-tall tower in China, and a gymnasium in Bali. Its composite forms have also proven resilient against earthquakes in countries like Colombia and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

This shift is crucial as the construction industry, responsible for a third of global carbon emissions, seeks to meet net-zero targets amid increasing urbanisation and demand for infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Sign up here<\/a> for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday<\/p>\n

Bored at work?<\/p>\n

And finally, the Guardian\u2019s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. The annual gathering of political and business leaders in Davos opened against a backdrop of war,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-431961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}