Gee... how many, did you say?

Davos, that club for the elite that sounds like a Dr Who villain, is over once again. The parties have finished, the whores and journalists have moved on to the next feeding ground and the hot air dissipates into the atmosphere. Has it made a difference? Well, maybe more to them than to us - for G7 suddenly sounds a little too exclusive, a little too much like we're trying to rule it over you, the unsavoury smack of colonialism. It's G20, now, the suped-up, super-size club for people in power. But for how long?

Truth is, G-anything defines those who matter and those who don't. G-x, where 'x' is hopefully an integer greater than zero, by its very nature expresses the view that there is club of nations who control the world, and a larger group of non-members who are there to buy at retail, as the Jewish joke about the role of gentiles has it. Making 'x' larger every now and then to placate the natives doesn't change the nature of the transaction.

Just as the EU has grown to the point of atrophy, where the bill for translation is larger than our national debt, the G-x will eventually grow to the point of pointlessness. When it was a nice cosy club of big historic nations who could boss the others about, it must have been great to meet up every now and then to compare notes, get the paper napkins out and carve up the bits of the world that were still left over, Churchill-style. One for you, one for me, one for Pierre to keep him happy, and Vladimir can have this peninusula over here. Oil? Really? Well, on second thoughts, I'll have the peninsula and he can have... how about this marshy bit to the left of Afghanistan?

As with children and chickens, nations don't stand still. They grow. They either grow more wealthy and smart, or they grow more restless and resistant. Before you know it, they're as tall as you are and younger and fitter. "In my day, young man..." doesn't seem to carry the same weight as it used to. Damn it all, they're answering back, now! So you make them a junior partner, let them fetch the drinks over and take notes and that sort of thing, get them involved, ready to take over one day but not just yet, feel a part of things. Should keep them happy.

For a while. Then the younger kids start to get jealous of the older ones who now get to eat with the grown-ups and stay up a bit later and drink wine with water at lunch, and they want a piece of the action, too. Before you know it, they're all driving their own cars and sleeping with boyfriends and girlfriends. And ignoring the good advice you give them. Having their own opinions. Getting jobs. Earning their own money. Few years and they'll expect you to think about retiring. Taking it easy. Taking a back seat. Hmmm. Not how I meant it to work out, somehow.

So you see, G-x will never work. X ends up being as big as the world. Which is when we reach the point where 'them' has become 'us', and we all start to work together.

Don't worry. I'm only joking. We'll think of something to stop it happening.