I like skiing as much as the next guy. But there are some serious problems with Davos...

As things currently stand, Britain is set to crash out of the European Union in just under 53 days time, sans deal. Even though I am a Eurosceptic, and, moreover, one entirely open to the prospect of hard Brexit, I am nonetheless one of the millions profoundly irritated that, having prevaricated and fiddled for quite so long, the government is only now trying to rush through something vaguely resembling a deal, right at the death. It is negligent, unprofessional, and a complete betrayal of trust.

I say this as I sit at, quarter to midnight, trying desperately to think of something vaguely interesting about the state of British politics to write about in my very first submission for my very first column. The situation does not improve when, in a moment of madness, I switch on Sky News for inspiration, only to see my Editor, resplendent in gold and leopard print, casually savaging Philip Hammond like a Bengal with a mouse, in what I fear is a dreadful prelude to what she’ll do to me should I fail to meet my brief on time. I turn off in a cold sweat.

But this week has been a weird one; for so long now, we have been waiting on the edge of a precipice for all to collapse, but strangely, everything stays where it is. Theresa May, on a hiding to nothing, continues to grimly hold on. The Speaker, loathed across the House, remains in place. Jeremy Corbyn is so deeply entrenched no one has seen him for days. Even the disgraced son of MP Kate Osamor is still hanging around Portcullis House. In many ways, I’m impressed he’s lasted this long, what with George Osborne having left parliament a good few years ago now.

Speaking of which, the former chancellor has been living it up amongst the powder in Davos this week; an Alpine resort hit so regularly by avalanches of politicos, bankers and global elites that locals look on jealously as neighbouring villages are wiped out by snow.

Davos isn’t going anywhere, either: for all the talk of global warming and ‘populists’ on the march ready to supplant the people who attend, neither it nor the botoxed super-rich have melted away just yet.

The very concept of Davos is both strange, and in many ways, perfectly human. Why would a group of people wishing to lead the world quite literally elevate themselves above everyone else, in such a lavish and gauche manner, that screams to those below this chilly Olympus: ‘We are your betters’? Especially at a time when discontent is running wild across the West and voters are looking for alternatives. It almost seems too irrational, too detached from reality, to continue to attend such a summit in the current climate. It’s almost as if the air up there is thinner or something.

But then, of course, that is partly why we have reached this point in the first place; precisely because our politicians are so out of touch. For many of them, politics is about personal prestige, not global good, and Davos is just the high point: a reaffirmation of their own success and importance. Why wouldn’t the elite want to demonstrate their immense wealth and authority to each other, and the rest of us? They’re only human, and humans love to brag and show off.

Though I know it winds many people up, I’m not opposed to the Davos summit. Skiing is my favourite pastime, so I can’t blame anyone from wanting to get up there for a few days, and feel a kind of affinity towards others who love it. Besides, it is good to know that, for one week of the year, Tony Blair is far away from me, and a few glasses of Moet and a lost set of keys away from frostbite, or a slip and a broken hip.

But Davos is a poster for all the negative facets of our politics today. It may not be anywhere near Westminster, but in many ways, that feeds into its image; it is as far away from the people whose lives it affects as possible, even more unaccountable than government. People who have long since lost the respect, trust and mandates of their people, like Blair and Osborne, speak as if they still retain some authority on subjects they have been deemed incapable of approaching by the electorate.

Attendees at the Davos summit are doing us a favour by reminding us this circle still exists. The longer this was of doing politics continues, on top of the world in secluded luxury, the longer discontent in Europe and elsewhere will rumble on. And as they pack up and leave, in helicopters, 4×4’s and private jets, the Davos set would do well to remember that.