Leading Economist addresses Winchester’s business leaders
International financier, Brian Lord Griffiths, gave a stirring presentation at the Guildhall on Wednesday 19 November as he shared his thoughts on the current global financial crisis. Addressed a gathering of 60 local community leaders and business people, Lord Griffiths discussed the current crisis in depth and compared it with previous recessions.
The current crisis has, in his view, been caused by a mixture of public, bank and Government actions. Although severe, he does not expect the approaching recession to develop into another great depression or a major slump.
He gave his thoughts on the causes of the financial downturn, and the challenges that have been presented. Following his presentation, which was jointly sponsored by Winchester City Council and Winchester Cathedral, the audience made good use of the opportunity to fire a string of testing questions at Lord Griffiths.
A former Director at the Bank of England and a former Special Advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach is now Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International.
His experience, coupled with his many other activities and interests, has meant that Lord Griffiths is well placed to understand the current economic situation and answer the questions posed by those who attended the presentation.
“This excellent evening attracted an audience from across the Winchester District, and I enjoyed the pre-lecture networking with fellow business people to hear how they feel the downturn is impacting on our local economy. As the Leader of a Council that has done so much to support entrepreneurship, I am very grateful to the Cathedral for inviting Lord Griffiths to share his insights with us. I look forward to Winchester hosting equally relevant and incisive presentations in the future.”
Dr Roly Riem, Canon Chancellor at the Cathedral added:
“We are delighted that Lord Plant, a member of the Cathedral Chapter, was able to secure our speaker. It was good to hear Lord Griffiths going beyond describing economic mechanisms to suggest that this downturn is a wake-up call: the western world now needs to change its relationship with credit and consumption.”