We must defend capitalism urged Ian Livingston, the chief executive officer of BT, this week.

Acknowledging that economic events had damaged the reputation of capitalism, he said: “What we have now is probably the biggest attack on capitalism since the fall of the Berlin Wall. There may be problems in the financial sector but it is dangerous to challenge it.

“All around the world we can see the success of global capitalism.” He made the comments at a UJIA business breakfast where he was in conversation with the BBC’s Jonathan Charles and Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor. Mr Livingston said businesses were the reason that certain countries had moved out of poverty. “We have to remind people of capitalism’s success.” And use our phones at peak time to do so?