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HSBC Rival Backs Free Speech After Suspension of Banker Over Criticism of Climate Change Activism

by Will Jones
24 May 2022 7:00 AM

The head of one of HSBC’s biggest rivals defended free speech after HSBC suspended a senior banker for criticising the hysterical tone of the climate debate. The Telegraph has the story.

Bill Winters, Chief Executive of the FTSE 100 bank Standard Chartered, warned that “it’s increasingly difficult to speak out against anything” following the backlash against Stuart Kirk, HSBC’s head of responsible investing.

Mr Kirk was suspended by HSBC on Sunday after he took aim at climate activists and said “who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years?”.

Speaking to the Telegraph in Davos, Mr. Winters said that people “should speak their mind” and hinted that he would not have suspended Mr. Kirk, calling the presentation “very colourful”.

He added: “Do I agree with the views? No. Do I encourage free speech? Yes.” 

It comes amid a wider push to reconsider fossil fuel investment in light of the energy crisis sparked by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In Britain, ministers are pressing oil and gas companies to invest in new projects in the North Sea just months after the COP26 climate change conference.

The Chief Executive of Saudi Arabia business Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, said on Monday that more drilling is vital to prevent energy shortages…

There are wider concerns in the City that a fad for ‘ethical’ investment is shutting down debate.

Accenture’s Europe boss Jean-Marc Ollagnier said that he would not suspend an employee if they gave views in a personal capacity, adding it is “not our job to judge” employees’ views.

In December, the head of outsourcer Serco compared ethical investors to “people who eat sausages, but don’t want to know how they are made” and warned that a reluctance to back defence companies was putting national security at risk…

Human rights activists also accused HSBC of hypocrisy for preventing discussion of climate change while refusing to condemn a brutal crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong, where it makes most of its money.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: CensorshipClimate AlarmismClimate changeHSBCPropagandaStuart Kirk

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33 Comments
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loopDloop
loopDloop
3 years ago

Do I agree with the views? No.

Then you’re an idiot.

33
-2
Rogerborg
Rogerborg
3 years ago
Reply to  loopDloop

/thread, basically.

0
0
BJs Brain is Missing
BJs Brain is Missing
3 years ago

A brave man in this insane society.

I am increasingly coming round to the point of view that there is a human schism on the horizon.

On the one hand there are those who are fully signed-up to the bio-security, climate-emergency, technocratic state – where only approved speech and thought is allowed, and where everyday life is safe, sterile, monitored, scrutinised and controlled.

On the other hand there are those who wish to live as sovereign Human Beings and who can live in a free and open society, without onerous restraints and Big Brother constantly watching over them.

It’s almost as if a New World, a young North America is required once again and such that like-minded people can escape to form a human sanctuary, free of the Old World thinking and tyranny. 

Last edited 3 years ago by BJs Brain is Missing
61
-1
Annie
Annie
3 years ago
Reply to  BJs Brain is Missing

It never works. You just get communities in the New World that are as repressive and robotic as those in the Old.

10
0
BJs Brain is Missing
BJs Brain is Missing
3 years ago
Reply to  Annie

I still think something will happen though. A counter-economics culture – Agorism?

7
0
MikeHaseler
MikeHaseler
3 years ago
Reply to  BJs Brain is Missing

“A brave man in this insane society” very much the them of my blog post yesterday: “looking for the sanity in the current insanity”. Perhaps the human psyche just isn’t capable of coexisting with the internet … most people go mental unless they get the 1-2-1 communication that used to be the norm.

10
0
John Dee
John Dee
3 years ago
Reply to  BJs Brain is Missing

‘Brave’ perhaps, but worryingly prone to believing climate-alarmist BS.

5
0
iane
iane
3 years ago
Reply to  BJs Brain is Missing

Yep, now we have Homo Non Sapiens emerging from what used to be Homo Sapiens. I put it all down to thought viruses injected into the atmosphere by lazy aliens who want the Earth but prefer to let humans wipe themselves out.

1
0
Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago
Reply to  BJs Brain is Missing

That was the basic premise of ‘Atlas Shrugged’…

1
0
SimCS
SimCS
3 years ago
Reply to  BJs Brain is Missing

And guess which side the churches are on? Yep, they are fully signed up to the ecomentalist garbage and corporatist woke claptrap.

1
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
3 years ago

Actually, I disagree with his views. There is absolutely no chance that Miami will be 6m under water in 100 years.
To say that is to accept the alarmist global model, which as ever falls massively short of predictions.

19
0
John Dee
John Dee
3 years ago
Reply to  For a fist full of roubles

Regarding the ‘fad’ for ethical investment, Mrs Dee and I went for an ‘ethical’ ISA some years ago, when we were rather more credulous than is currently the case.
Those nice fund managers just sent us an update showing that it had dropped by 10% in the last six months.
By contrast, a non-ethical fund (undoubtedly operating on the ‘dark side’ of fossil fuel use) came in at a handy 5.5% gain.
The ESG side of things looks like it’s going to lose some of its worthy glow quite soon, it seems.

12
0
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
3 years ago
Reply to  John Dee

“ethical” investing is going to fail even more as governments cannot squeeze taxpayer’s anymore to fund the rent-seeking subsidies.

If it requires subsidies, it’s NOT sustainable.

11
0
Backlash
Backlash
3 years ago
Reply to  John Dee

It always was a stupid utopia built on nothing but hope – like all things green. I was mocked by friends when I suggested last year that all this green crap will be dropped instantly when recession hits. They’re not mocking quite so much now.

13
0
stewart
stewart
3 years ago

When I was growing up the idea that someone would be publicly reprimanded simply for expressing an opinion would have been met with astonishment and outrage.

Not being able to express your opinion freely is pretty much the condition of a slave.

I intend to take every opportunity I get to remind HSBC staff that they are slaves.

37
0
John Dee
John Dee
3 years ago
Reply to  stewart

I intend never to have anything to do with the likes of HSBC. If enough customers avoided them, they might un-woke just a bit.

12
0
paulnb
paulnb
3 years ago

Oi HSBC. Where were you when the Chinese were cracking down on the Hong Kongers? Can’t quite recall your heroic stance against repression on this occasion – or have I misremembered?

25
0
SallyM
SallyM
3 years ago

I watched the presentation by the guy from HSBC (here). It doesn’t question any climate change science, the interpretation of the science, or climate change policies – he supports all of it. He merely says that none of it is going to crash financial markets and that financiers and investors should view climate change as an opportunity that they can continue to cash in on. The man is hardly a skeptic or heretic. The only thing this demonstrates (yet again) is that if you deviate from any aspect of the narrative, even in a narrow and insignificant way, you’ll be swiftly punished.

24
0
Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago
Reply to  SallyM

I suspect that his ‘support’ for climate change was simply to get his presentation through ‘clearance’.

We really need a new word to express ”the requirement to state that of course you are not attacking a woke position as a sop to the censors before proceeding to attack it’.

4
0
SallyM
SallyM
3 years ago
Reply to  Dodgy Geezer

Perhaps, although it didn’t seem that way to me.

In any event, the practice of stating that of course you support position X before going on to make some minor criticism of it only serves to reinforce position X.

0
0
stewart
stewart
3 years ago
Reply to  SallyM

We are deep into witch hunt territory.

Anyone who has read Arthur Miller’s The Crucible or is familiar with the McCarthy era knows how it works.

If you want to survive you keep your head down.

If you so much as try to stand up for someone who is accused of being a witch, you are instantly a witch.

If you try stand up against the witch hunting frenzy, you’re a witch.

And the best way to avoid the accusation of being a witch is to be an accuser yourself or be part of an accusing mob. It’s no guarantee of course, because the mob can turn on you any moment, but keeping your head down or being part of the hysterical mob is where you’re safest.

It’s very strange having learned about all this as part of history, thinking it was all in the past, and suddenly encountering this behaviour in our own times. You’d think we’d learn but obviously we don’t.

7
0
ImpObs
ImpObs
3 years ago

warned that a reluctance to back defence companies was putting national security at risk…

Who is reluctant to invest in defense companies, and why are defense companies stocks so high if there is a reluctance to invest in them?

How does anyone get to be the head of outsourcer Serco with such a lack of logical thught?

7
0
maggie may
maggie may
3 years ago
Reply to  ImpObs

Well there are plenty of funds out there that won’t invest in defence companies but obviously others that are happy to. There’s a lot of hypocrisy around it, like an ESG fund manager i listened to recently who supports all things green and electric but won’t invest in the mining companies for environmental reasons, even though they are essential in order to make batteries. If no one invests in the miners, how are we going to make all these electric cars the greens are so keen on?

6
0
stewart
stewart
3 years ago
Reply to  ImpObs

That’s not someone trying to make a logical argument.

That’s pressure and intimidation, like a gangster.

0
0
John Dee
John Dee
3 years ago

If indeed that HSBC risk manager did have his presentation okayed by management, then his subsequent treatment suggests that the management of HSBC are a spineless bunch, even allowing for their being bankers.

7
0
ebygum
ebygum
3 years ago

This is now the way of the world…it’s as if ‘reality’ has completely left the building, and all we have left are huge supranatural actors and their agendas.
Just like Covid, the Green Agenda doesn’t rely on reality, or evidence, or common sense…it’s just a huge behemoth that seems unstoppable…
Did you know the NHS has a Chief Sustainability Officer? It’s a man called Dr Nick Watts, who intends to deliver net zero for the NHS by 2040?
Here he is at the WEF (eye-roll!!) saying that when he asks NHS staff what they care most about…..it isn’t that 1 in 5 people are on a waiting list, it isn’t that people waiting for treatment is in (millions) double figures…it isn’t the new study showing that the NHS when compared to other similar health services comes in the bottom three eight times and bottom of the league four times, comparing 16 health outcomes…
oh no what they ‘shout’ at him is climate change!
https://twitter.com/backtolife_2022/status/1528047484211187714

How on earth do we stop it??

15
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
3 years ago

It is The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. Is anyone surprised?

4
0
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
3 years ago

I’ll probably bin my underperforming HSBC shares and buy Standard Chartered.

The HSBC board seems to jump on every western bandwagon just as it’s collapsing.

3
0
Backlash
Backlash
3 years ago

The point about do we care if Miami is underwater in 100 years is a good one. These activists proclaiming doom seem to think that even if this were to happen, people would do nothing about it.
In reality, would they sit there and drown, or MOVE?!

3
0
Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago
Reply to  Backlash

I think that his position is that even if Miami were lower than the nominal sea level that would not necessarily mean that it was underwater. Amsterdam is about 6 feet below sea level….

7
0
me too
me too
3 years ago

Robert Anson Heinlein:
The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surely curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbours than the other sort.

3
0
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
3 years ago

Develop a sense of priority. Because if you don’t then you will be well and truly screwed in the situation to come. If you’ve let yourself go a bit in recent years then this is the time to pull it all in and get yourself together. All of the nonsense isn’t going to count for anything and you know that.

1
0
JASA
JASA
3 years ago

” in light of the energy crisis sparked by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine”.

It’s government policy that is to blame, full stop. What’s wrong with The Telegraph?

5
0

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