David Bell (Financial Times)
Sir David Bell Chairman, Financial Times Group. If you regard the Financial Times as the epitome of integrity — look away now! That opening sentence did say: "independent of government, commercial interests and the news media" didn't it yet? Immediately we are in this hallucinatory Alice-in Wonderland world where the head of the news media for commercial interests should take pride of place. Bell is currently a Civil Service Commissioner (somewhat dominated by business interests) and also Non-Executive Chairman of a small PR company The Windmill Partnership which tries to sell Chai Patel's re-hab clinic, the Priory (where most business deals are done these days). He is also a UK council member of INSEAD, which is a selective, private graduate business school (entirely connected to big business) currently ranked fourth in the world by Bell's Financial Times. He is also Chairman of the Trust which over saw the Millenium Bridge which closed to the public after two days. Bell is chairman of the International Youth Foundation
Bell is a non-Executive Director for Vitec plc whose subsidiary brand Clear-Com® provide the clever technology for Outside Broadcast Trucks. Their website notes of their surveillance equipment that: "Law enforcement groups have their own specialized version of the trucks". Clear-Com showcase "a variety of real-world applications" including:
- "Military, Aerospace and Government (MAG): How systems are used in target ranges, between military units, and at NASA testing and simulation environments. International customers include Boeing, Raytheon, the US Army, US Navy, police departments, mass transit authorities, and port authorities."
And who knows who else, what with 'end-user' certificates being what they are. Clear-Com provides the technology for live audio communication systems for broadcast, studio, public safety, military, government, air traffic control, business, and event professionals. This is a very entreprenurial venture when it comes to facilitating war, media coverage of the war (and indeed the protest against it).
But it is not all surveillance, Bexel (a Vitec subsiduary) help media standards by facilitating some of the finest programmes on television — the ever increasing number of 'reality shows'. Examples are Survivor, American Idol, Brat Camp, The Osbournes and The Apprentice. As Pearson's 'Director for People' with responsibility for the 'recruitment, motivation, development and reward of employees across the Pearson Group' old Alan Sugar's catchphrase "you're fired" must have a particular resonance with Bell. Pearson is involved in the production and distribution of television programmes through three subsidiary companies Thames Television, Grundy and ACI. It also has stakes in two satellite television channels UK Gold and UK Living, not the worst of channels (providing old BBC repeats) and had a 20% stake (and thus must take 20% of the blame) in Channel Five - the home of the sex fuelled documentary, phone-in swindling, Trisha Goddard, Home and Away, The Terry and Gaby Show, BrainTeaser and so on.
Another Vitec subsiduary, Drake Electronics Ltd is engaged in Defence Communications: Operations Centres, Air Defence Centres, Command Posts, Mobile/Tactical. Prime Contractors are: Alenia Marconi Systems, Raytheon, British Aerospace, IBM, Vickers and 'Others'. According to their presentation material they operate in Isreal. They provide command & control for the US Department of Defense's Global Hawk, that's the Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) in the picture. It spots the targets for the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan — aiding their renowned pin-point accuracy. Bell is Chair of the Trustees of the Europe branch of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
Bell is part of the ImagineNations™ Group headed by Jacob Schimmel, chairman of UKI Investments, the Schimmel family’s (one of the UK's largest) private real estate companies with interests in real estate, financial services, technology, aviation, tourism and telecommunications. The family’s business interests are centered in the United Kingdom, France and Israel with growing involvement in Eastern Europe and the United States. Recently, Schimmel has been involved in the purchase of IDB Holding Corporation Ltd., one of the largest business enterprises in Israel.
A trustee of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation and Zen Research
