Anthony Hilton: Capitalism gets gored by Al the campaigner

Six people who own Wal-Mart are richer than 100m poor Americans combined

We were followed on stage at the British Venture Capital Association annual conference by Al Gore, one-time US Vice-President, now a globetrotting campaigner trying to mobilise the world to combat climate change. But the early part of his speech before he got fully into his stride on that was a scathing indictment of contemporary capitalism. First he highlighted the degree of inequality it was creating by pointing out that the half-dozen members of the family which owns Wal-Mart the supermarket chain have a wealth greater than that of the poorest 100 million Americans combined. Next he mentioned the volatility in markets and commodities — fuelled in part, he suggested, by the frenzied levels of financial sector dealing in these assets — which threatens to cause a further spiking in food prices with the potential to cause social unrest across the world.

Mr Gore's message was that he believes in markets and capitalism but these cankers could sink it. It is interesting to hear the dangers acknowledged by an American. Perhaps some of the more remorselessly free-market Tory backbenchers could take note.

His third concern was short- termism and the fact that managements increasingly do what is right for themselves and their personal bonuses rather than what is good for the company when they protect short-term profits at the expense of long-term investment.

That struck a chord. Didn't Professor John Kay deliver a report on just that subject and the damages and dangers which flow from short-termism in the UK just a few months ago?

Has anyone done anything about it since? Does anyone plan so to do?