I don't believe it!

There is nothing that you could say to me now that I could ever believe.

I believe that we are better equipped than we were 10 or 20 years ago to cope with the difficulties we face in the world economy, and the reason we are better equipped in Britain, in the (European) area and in America is that people did take time in the last few years to put us on a better footing.

There are only eight weeks to go to these vital Hong Kong discussions. I do not believe that you can get a vital agreement that works if we wait until people arrive in Hong Kong.

I believe there is a moral sense and a global ethic that commands attention from people of every religion and every faith, and people of no faith. But I think what's new is that we now have the capacity to communicate instantaneously across frontiers right across the world.

We need quantitative assessments of the success of education. We need certification and qualifications both for teachers and for pupils. It is not a choice between quantity and quality, between access and excellence. Both of these will happen together if people really do believe in the importance of education to change lives.