The Bilderberg Group arrive in Watford for an unaccountable weekend

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If you were a shadowy cabal bent on world domination and you had a top secret plotting session lined up, then the only natural choice of venue would have to be Watford. Yes, the Bilderberg Group, arch villains for many in the conspiracy business have descended upon Watford for a meeting which is either a crucible for sinister plans or a glorified cocktail party, depending on who you ask.

They have done their secretive reputation no favours whatsoever by banning journalists from coming anywhere near the Grove hotel, despite early indications that they might actually allow a token degree of transparency this time. The erection of the ‘Great Wall of Watford’ and the systematic chucking about of the word ‘terrorism’ to institute absurdly insular ‘security’ measures have also given the conspiracy theorists much ammunition.

It depends on what you call a conspiracy really. Incoherent ranting aside, there are several worrying aspects to the Bilderberg meetings and indeed the guest list. Forget the instantly recognizable list of mediocre politicians who are carrying off the headlines, have a look at the names you don’t recognize, and therein lies the rub. It is a worrying incarnation of the relationship between corporate interest, the military industrial complex and government. And to be honest, there’s not much shadowy or secret about it. In modern corporate capitalism, that is the triumvirate of power and it comes as no huge surprise that they like to chat over canapés in suspect suburbs from time to time.

But the sheer effrontery with which warmongers, tax avoiders, profiteers and those who are supposed to represent us batten down the hatches, black out the news and send forth lines of armed police is simply staggering in this day and age. The very manner in which they barricade themselves away from the public gaze in what is masquerading as a liberal democracy is quite remarkable.

They can describe themselves as private individuals attending a private meeting all they like, but the reality is that they are – in whatever capacity, conferring on the direction of our world, and shaping it ever further in the image of corporate interest, the military industrial complex and unrepresentative government. Our consent was neither asked for nor given and our politicians seem to feel a greater sense of responsibility to the organs of corporate, military capitalism than to their own poor and their own accountability. So it doesn’t really take pastiche conspiracies framed by the media to discredit the valid concerns here. Step back and consider. What is actually going on here and why if it is all for a better world, is it so shrouded in clumsy, flagrant secrecy?


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