50 People Who Matter 2010

The New Statesman’s list of individuals with global influence and the power to change our world.

By Staff blogger Published 27 September 2010

What do Lady Gaga and David Cameron have in common? Julian Assange and Steve Jobs? Jacob Zuma and Angelina Jolie? They all have world-changing potential. And they are new entries in our annual list of the individuals who have global influence – for good or ill.

The New Statesman 50 People Who Matter 2010 are:

1. (2) Rupert Murdoch
2. (1) Barack Obama
3. (-) Mahmoud Ahmedinijad
4. (10) Xi Jinping
5. (-) Steve Jobs
6. (26) Pope Benedict XVI
7. (24) Ashfaq Kayani
8. (12) Angela Merkel
9. (4) Eric Schmidt, Larry Page & Sergey Brin
10. (44) Hugo Chavez
11. (-) Binyamin Netanyahu
12. (12) David Petraeus
13. (-) Sarah Palin
14. (-) Craig Venter
15. (-) David Cameron
16. (13) Bill Gates
17. (-) Felipe Calderon
18. (-) Khaled Meshal
19. (25) Warren Buffett
20. (7) Vladimir Putin
21. (8) Osama bin Laden
22. (-) Angelina Jolie
23. (-) Julian Assange
24. (-) Lloyd Blankfein
25. (-) Hillary Clinton
26. (-) Mark Zuckerberg
27. (-) Ratan Tata
28. (-) Stephenie Meyer
29. (31) Sonia Gandhi
30. (-) James Cameron
31. (28) Ingvar Kamprad
32. (-) Stephen McIntyre
33. (-) Moqtada al-Sadr
34. (-) Aung San Suu Kyi
35. (-) Margaret Chan
36. (-) Jacob Zuma
37. (-) Bob Diamond
38. (35) Oprah Winfrey
39. (-) Paul Krugman
40. (36) Mohammed Yunus
41. (34) Simon Cowell
42. (-) Zaha Hadid
43. (22) Amartya Sen
44. (-) Lady Gaga
45. (6) Malalai Joya
46. (-) John Lasseter
47. (-) Julia Gillard
48. (-) Han Han
49. (14) Paul Kagame
50. (-) Caster Semenya

Previous year's ranking in brackets, with (-) denoting a new entry.

Entries compiled by Caroline Crampton, Ollie Cussen, George Eaton, Sophie Elmhirst, Mehdi Hasan, James Macintyre, Patrick Osgood, Nick Petrie, Duncan Robinson, Samira Shackle and Daniel Trilling.

All photos by Getty Images.

43 comments

Tue, 2010-09-28 14:27 — John Anderson (not verified)

Whoever wrote the blurb about Stephen McIntyre is a fool. Because of him being an outsider to the climate change community, it was his professionalism and honesty and integrity that carried his message beyond the noise in the discussion. Regardless of your beliefs regarding climate change, McIntyre's cool demeanor and insistence on transparency can only be viewed as a positive influence on the whole debate.

Sun, 2010-10-03 16:05 — jakerman (not verified)

To wards the end of the comments (see link), some of us take a critical look at the impact of Steve McIntyre

http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2010/09/climate-mcintyre-keepe...

Thu, 2010-09-30 21:11 — pesadia (not verified)

I would like to endorse the comments of the following people:
1) John Anderson
2) Adrian Ashfield
3) Oliver K Manuel
4) Alan
5) Chad
6) Kendra
7) William Nicholson
8) Janet H Thompson
9) John R T
10) Tom Kennedy
11) Richard Kiwi (final remark)

The quiet dignity of Steve Mcintyre has touched many many thousands of people in a very positive way and to suggest that his motives are anything other than honourable, is unacceptable. Please reconsider the final comment in your article. PLEASE