Davos: organisers tempted fate when planning Alps shindig

World economy was growing when organisers put together programme but mood is more sombre now

The organisers of the World Economic Forum were clearly tempting fate when they made the theme of this year's Davos the onset of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The message was clear. After years in which business leaders and policymakers had agonised over the state of the global economy, the recession of 2008-09 was history and it was time for some big picture stuff.