"Julia Gillard...accelerating the pace of innovation will require diverse cities, great universities, great new and established businesses and extensive interactions between them... individuals who are open to ideas and argument and who are part of teams in which vigorous debate, dissent and discomfort exist" - to my mind the Australian Prime Minister seems to be advocating control by an intellectual elite, and there is no mention of democracy driving the pace of change.
"Tony Blair... states which have predictable rules that are evenly enforced and do not have closed elite circles" - this sounds fine, but the Blair regime (one can hardly call it a democratic government) comprised a small circle sitting on sofas in Downing Street and lying to the electorate to sustain themselves in power.
"In press freedom, lack of corruption and the rule of law much, but not all, of Pacific Asia lags behind the Atlantic region. The same is true of human rights" - but going forward will China and India copy the West, or will the West adopt the lower standards of Pacific Asia?
"Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, said: we argue strongly that you can't build a high-end, very sophisticated economy with active censorship" - and yet Western society is saddled with the censorship of political correctness.
"Many of the cities in the region, Seoul and Tokyo among them, are some of the most homogenous cities on Earth" - and yet Japan and South Korea are incredibly innovative economies.
"Tony Blair... states which have predictable rules that are evenly enforced and do not have closed elite circles" - this sounds fine, but the Blair regime (one can hardly call it a democratic government) comprised a small circle sitting on sofas in Downing Street and lying to the electorate to sustain themselves in power.
"In press freedom, lack of corruption and the rule of law much, but not all, of Pacific Asia lags behind the Atlantic region. The same is true of human rights" - but going forward will China and India copy the West, or will the West adopt the lower standards of Pacific Asia?
"Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, said: we argue strongly that you can't build a high-end, very sophisticated economy with active censorship" - and yet Western society is saddled with the censorship of political correctness.
"Many of the cities in the region, Seoul and Tokyo among them, are some of the most homogenous cities on Earth" - and yet Japan and South Korea are incredibly innovative economies.
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