Parallel thinking

Two completely independent pronouncements were made on 8 May. One was from Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, and the other from Lord Lawson of Blaby, former Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom. Let's start with Lawson. He put forward a case that the UK should leave the European Union on the basis that, whatever the original rationale for membership, modern realities have rendered UK membership irrelevant. Lawson clearly believes that people have become blind to the obvious fact that, 'the relevant economic context nowadays is not Europe but globalisation.' In other words, to prosper, you should follow the money and stop faffing around barking up the wrong trees.

Coincidentally, Tim Clark, speaking at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, was saying precisely the same thing. Except that Tim was thinking of airline alliances, rather than membership of the European Union. He said that the old ways of doing business and 'patchwork quilts' of airline alliances are coming unglued in the face of a changing industry. 'You must go to where your new markets are and fit your products to what is happening whether you like it or not.' And, of course, the Emirates and Qantas partnership is a perfect illustration of this idea.

Lord Lawson and Tim Clark, without realising it, have stood up for each other.