The state of the world in 2023, with journalist and Airmic panel moderator Clive Myrie
Journalist Clive Myrie introduced both the risk and insurance keynote panel debates at the Airmic conference, held last week in Manchester, and knows a thing or two about the current volatility in political and economic global affairs.
Myrie took to the stage and asked people what they thought the story of most interest to the BBC’s viewers was in the last week. After running through a list of the usual suspects – Ukraine, Covid, football – Myrie revealed that the top three subjects were the travails of Donald Trump, Nicola Sturgeon, and Boris Johnson.
“The point is that all three populists who are uppermost in the British peoples’ minds at the moment—they haven’t been that successful. And, yet, they are at the top of our thoughts,” he said.
Myrie pointed to the recent renaissance of the centre-left in Australia following the end of Scott Morrison’s administration.
He said: “I was in Australia to cover the bushfires three or four years ago. Absolutely horrific. And I was astonished at the prevailing belief that the fires were started deliberately, and that manmade climate change had nothing to do with it. Populism thrives in opposition. It denounces the status quo. It encourages conspiracy theories and attacks so-called elites. It promises emotional responses rather than practical policies.”
Myrie added: “I think that’s where we are today. We are left picking up the pieces of populism. The wreckage of that is having to be cleaned up. Whether in America or in Britain, it’s equally problematic. National populism is underpinned by national grievance in China and—most notably and violently at the moment—in Russia.”
Later, Airmic CEO Julia Graham joined Myrie, trading the interviewer-interviewee roles for Airmic TV. Julia asked Myrie about his legal background and how he ended up as a BBC journalist.
He said: “I tell you that my parents are not happy! They’ve gotten over it now, but every first-generation immigrant wants their child to be a lawyer, dentist, or doctor—a proper profession. But me becoming a member of the fourth estate and a reporter is something that they weren’t initially pleased about. But I always enjoyed telling stories.”
A role model in his early days was Sir Trevor McDonald, the legendary ITV News anchor, demonstrating that senior news and journalism roles were achievable for people of colour.
Myrie said: He suggested that someone of colour could do that job. And I thought, ‘Right, combine the two—reporting, travelling the world. Foreign correspondent.’ And that’s what I became.”
Asked about risk and opportunity on the agenda, Myrie suggested one topic was top of his agenda.
Myrie said: “Given what I’ve been doing over the past year on Ukraine, it feels as if that conflict is underpinning a lot of the crises and problems and issues we have at the moment, whether it’s the rise in inflation, energy prices, the refugee problem, food scarcity and insecurity in large parts of the developing world, particularly Africa. I would point to Ukraine as the fulcrum of a lot of the problems we have at the moment, emanating from that conflict.”
Reflecting on the view of former NATO deputy supreme commander Sir Richard Shirreff, speaking on the risk panel, that the Ukraine War is unlikely to end in 2023, Myrie suggested that the US election cycle might influence the timing of a conclusion to hostilities next year.
“I think there is an imperative on Joe Biden to try to get it done by the end of 2024, by the election. Everything the Ukrainians have asked for, and they’ve been initially rebuffed, they’ve eventually got: that’s long-range missiles, that’s tanks, and I suspect that will be aircraft, as well,” Myrie said.
He added: “Commanding the skies, to a degree, could give Ukraine the edge. The western allies will be looking at how well the Ukrainian counter-offensive develops. It’s looking as if it’s going in the right direction but it’s going to be hard. The Russians are dug in on a front line that is about six hundred miles long, close to 1,000km long, but it they’re seen to be delivering results – particularly with the long-range missiles they’ve been given, particularly with the Leopard tanks and hardware they’ve been given – and we know F-16 fighter pilots are being trained now for the Ukrainian Air Force, I can see them getting the jets, and that could be a whole different ball game.”
Myrie is no stranger to Ukraine; recent assignments have seen him reporting from the war-torn country. Back in the UK, Myrie is the most recent presenter of the BBC’s legendary show Master Mind, and he also has a new travel programme on the BBC, Clive Myrie's Italian Road trip.
Reflecting on his varied career as a journalist, Myrie added: “I've covered a lot of things and I've been incredibly lucky to have this ringside seat to some of the most important and memorable stories of the last thirty to forty years.
“But the one that really sticks out is being at Morehouse College, a traditional Black college in Atlanta where Dr Martin Luther King went. I was reporting from there on the night that Barack Obama won the presidency of the United States, and everyone was in tears when it was announced that he managed to get over the line. I was reporting live, and I brought some of my own feelings into the reportage.”