The idea that a nation which lacks a written constitution has a  a constitutional convention that full membership of a board of trade is only open to people who hold the title of privy counsellor is not on the face of it a major issue. However the current list of nearly 250 Privy Counsellors is made up almost exclusively of politicians, members of the Royal Family, and the three most senior Bishops. The concept of a Board of Trade is that it focuses on business needs and how to improve the economic well being of society at a time when thanks to the incompetence of the current Government and our foolish decision to leave the most powerful trading bloc in the world, we need as much help as we can get. The truth is that many business people are far less focused on titles and what their role is called, and far more on getting the job done with a maximum of impact and minimum of fuss. However those business people who run companies that have boards that are genuinely a place where the tough decisions get taken, know the difference between an Executive Director and Non-Executive Director, along with a Board Advisor. Most also have had the experience of working with Chair people who can dominate proceedings and Chief Executives who can be hard to hold to account. To ask these people to join a Board, but not be full members, to see that the board itself is made up of one person, who is the only person out of 250 people willing to be part of the board. To known that the other 240 or so non members are mostly incapable of understanding the nature of business and the chairman, board member and Government Minister, despite his own business experience is deeply incompetent, must make the call to come and advise ‘the board’ seem like a complete waste of time. The splinter of trade is a waste of time and our money. If the Government want to take advice from people in Business there are many ways of doing so. Of course the Government needs to go where businesses gather rather than ask the businesses to come to where the Government operates, but as the only member of the board is one man with access to Government transport, this hardly seems to be a big issue. On the other hand if the Government wants to be taken seriously it must change its constitutional conventions, before it becomes the laughing stock of the nation and the rest of the world, assuming of course that this not already the case.