>> i am grateful to him that he has been a persistent advocate of the port and the jobs that are created as a result of that. i have to say to him i'm happy to meet with him to talk about this issue and to talk about what we have done, which is equal interest@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @r >> does the prime minister think that he has it wrong? >> i said that the country has to make a choice. they have to make a choice. if we want to maintain and

improve our schools, if we want to maintain our policing, and if we want to ensure the guaranteed and other guarantees -- we want to ensure they can to guarantee, a gp guarantee another guarantees of our national health service, and that has to be paid for. i believe the country will make the choice in favor of maintaining and improving our public services. i think once again the conservative party are exposed as the party that opposed public service improvements in our country. >> thank you, mr. speaker. over the years there's been a continual drift away from the imposition of the direct taxes to indirect taxes. as the prime minister knows, these bear most of only on those who can afford least. and i wonder if the prime minister will agree with me,

it's becoming time that we went back to the traditional labour party policy on taxation, and that is to redistribute wealth in favor of poor people. and i would like to see in this general election say that he's going to see that there will be direct taxes imposed on the billionaire rich and we should be paying the real bear of taxation in this country. >> mr. speaker, there is one point on which i would agree with him, and that is the importance of tax credits that have helped -- that have helped lower income and middle income people get out of poverty and secure their livelihood. the conservatives are not interested in tax credits. 6 million families in this country received tax credits. 20 million children and mothers and fathers benefit from tax credit. one of the cuts the

conservatives propose for this year is to cut child tax credits for middle income families. now that we do more to push people into lower income groups than anything else. they should change their policy and help middle income families in this country. >> david green? >> the prime minister promise with his jobs for british workers, can he confirm the latest official figures produced this morning show that the number of u.k. born private sector workers is several hundred thousand lower today than it was in 1997? [shouting] >> mr. speaker, net migration to this country has been falling as a result of actions that we have been taken. and it has fallen in the last three years. and it is falling because there are more people here locally getting the jobs that are available. and i think the conservative party should think twice about the policy on orders on migration because the very businesses they are quoting want to be able to bring people in

this country to do the jobs that are necessary. we proposed the australian point of system on migration. their policy of a quarter of immigration without giving a number would do great damage to british business. >> thank you, mr. speaker. as i know my right honorable friend is aware, the last 10 years have seen an unprecedented increase in support for science and technology in this country. but would he agree with me that now is not the time to cut investment in science research and education? for it is in these areas that we will enter our future economic success and economic growth. >> mr. speaker, record investment in education, record investment in universities, record investment in science in our country, record investment in new innovation in our country, that is the record of our labor government. and i'm proud to tell people that we are the party that supports industry in this

country. >> given the allegations surrounding the council and the demand for an inquiry, the inquiry supported by the farmer there, with the prime minister support such an investigation, or easy afraid there is something to hide? >> mr. speaker, it came down to the apartment and he spent most of his time, most of his time boating with the conservative party. he should go back to scotland. he should go back to scotlan ♪ >> hello, and welcome to our look back across the months and years of the 54th parliament. >> world leaders have come and gone. there have been natural disasters and a tragedy. but this building has remained.

>> rarely has parliament seemed such turbulence. there are new levels of public hostility towards our politicians. >> we will look back at the highs and lows of this parliament, up from 2005 to 2010. >> parliament come and go, but some things stay the same. in 2005, there was a traditional opening ceremony. the economy was healthy and strong. you did not have to apologize if you were a banker. prime minister tony blair had just won an historic second term for labor. david cameron was a junior member of the shadow cabinet.

>> i can offer the prime minister some advice of my own. it comes from personal experience. you should set a timetable for your departure. [laughter] i hope the prime minister will take that advice in a constructive way. >> he makes fun at my expense, but i say good luck to him for the future. let me gently remind him of however, of which party was elected. he has 197 members of parliament, we have 356, and i stand here and keep sit there. -- keeps sits there. . he sits there. >> is the prime minister still

intending to serve a full term? under any circumstances will he change his mind? >> probably to the delight of my colleagues, when i do leave the leadership, i will not be coming back again. [laughter] >> this is a general election is the biggest duty in a liberal politics in over 80 years. i believe that will add to the health of the parliament ahead. >> in 2005, three underground trains were blown up by suicide bombers. emergency services were sending ended were greeted with horrific injuries -- were sent and were greeted with horrific injuries.

>> as of yet, we do not know who was responsible for these criminal and appalling acts. the metropolitan police are in operational command. they are well established with procedures. >> this mornings at of unspeakable depravity and is condemned utterly by the whole house. this is an attack on our city, our country, and our way of life as a whole. >> this attack was despicable, yes. but not unpredictable.

it was entirely predictable, and i predict, not the last. >> now, much of what parliament debated or spoke about became a matter of balancing the terrorist threat with individual liberties. tony blair could afford a defense, and rebels began to amass in numbers. >> the ayes are 299 and, the no's are 300. >> argument outside the chamber raged for weeks.

ministers were flown home for the vote. but the prime minister and ultimately new defeat was coming. >> sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing and then it to win and do the wrong thing. >> can you think of another time in which it would take more than 90 days after arresting a suspect to come to a decision as to whether to try him as a terrorist? >> our country faces a real and serious threat of terrorism. >> in the end, he was well beaten by 31 votes. >> the day after the election, michael howard announced he would be standing down as conservative leader. several choices were considered to replace him. in the end, david cameron finished the primary well ahead.

he is the new tory leader. >> and david cameron. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. the first issue that the prime mystics -- the prime minister and i are going to have to work together on is getting his education reform through the house of commons and into law. the chief whip is shouting like a child. incidently, i should have and welcomed him to his new position and congratulated him on winning the conservative leadership election.

but can i tell him where i feel we may have a disagreement? as i understand his position coming -- his position, all schools should be free to set their own admissions procedures. i believe the present system should stay in a paper -- stay in place. >> it is only the first day, and already the prime minister is asking me questions. i want to talk about the future. he was the future ones. [laughter] education is one of the public services in a desperate need of reform. >> we all knew it david cameron's first pmq. charles kennedy resigned on the seventh of january, 2006. two days later, he admitted he had a drinking problem.

>> the election was eventually won by campbell, but then the prime minister's questions got off to a bad start. >> perhaps he would like to explain why it is that one in the private schools do not have a permanent head teacher. [shouts] -- one in five and schools and

do not have a permanent head teacher. [shouts] mr. speaker, i just knew it was going to be one of those days. -- he resigned as leader in 2007. >> of the problem of asylum is that it played the secretary. >> by 2006, problems were mounting for the home office. they admitted they did not know how many illegal immigrants or in the country or paid employees here. officials had set free 1000 foreign prisoners who should have been deported. in the end, the secretary's successor was under pressure.

>> i want to be straight with the committee and honest with you, because i believed that in the wake of the problems of a mass migration that we have been facing, is eyeing our fit -- our system is not fit to help us. it is inadequate in its scope. it is inadequate in terms of information technology, leadership, management, systems and processes. we have tried to cope with this new age with a system that has been inherited from an age that came before it. >> to ease the pressure on an overstretched, office, the ministry of justice came into being in 2007. there have been other changes in the last five years. we now have a u.k. supreme court.

the lord chancellor is now the lord speaker. there has been a generous supply of political scandals in the last five years. there was a yacht-date and e- mail-date and a nanny-gate. in 2006, the police began an inquiry into allegations that people had made donations to the labour party with an expectation of receiving favors. >> the minister, in response to previous questions, said that the breaches were not done with his authority. >> lord ashcroft made a contribution to her election

campaign. she would have done well to tell the house that. >> downing street officials were interviewed. in december 2006, tony blair became the first serving prime minister to be interviewed by police. those who started the ball rolling were making the most of it all. >> given all of the prime minister's revelations about men and women in the last few days, you should be compared to richard nixon. >> we are just about to have a scottish election campaign. why don't you get up and put to

meet your case for independence and separation from scotland? >> in the end, the case was dropped. but the men who led the inquiry faced questions of their own. >> the prime minister was interviewed as a witness. why was he interviewed as a witness when it technically he could have been interviewed under caution? do you think that your involvement in this case has advance your career or hindered your career or had absolutely no bearing on your career? it is a personal question. you may not want to answer it. >> we have discovered that no

charges were able to be brought. >> i have done my job. i followed the evidence. >> you are denying the notion that you participated in the political system. >> june 27th, 2007 saw another handover of power. we started the day with one of prime minister and finished with another. >> at 12:00, tony blair finished out his last parliamentary duties.

he took his final questions. the house of commons was at its most generous. >> thank you for your it gentle courtesy and kind forbearances towards me over the years. [laughter] i will have no further meetings today or any other day. for all of the battles we have had, for 13 years he has a lead our party, for 10 years he has led our country, and no one can be in any doubt about the huge effort he has made toward public service. >> he and i have had a number of disagreements, but his relation to us personally has been unfailingly courteous, and i would like to express my gratitude to him for that. >> i wish the prime minister

well into the future, but is he aware that the majority of the people of the united kingdom feel betrayed by the fact that they are being drawn down further into the supplicating the quicksand and expensive and bureaucracy -- suffocating quicksand and expensive bureaucracy of the european union? >> [unintelligible] [laughter] >> mr. speaker, on behalf of the little part of the planet that i represent, thank you for what you have done a poor in the lives of so many people. >> i hope that what happened in northern ireland will be repeated. >> under him, the party has once again become a natural part

of a parliament. >> i have never pretended to be a great house of commons man, but i can pay in the house the greatest compliment i can by saying that from the first to the last i never stopped fearing it. i felt it as much as 10 years ago and every bit as acute. it is in that spirit that respect is contained. the second thing i would like to say is about politics. to all of my colleagues from all political parties, sometimes people who are engaged in politics stand tall bearded although -- stand tall.

this is still at the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster. it is still on vacation the place -- on occasion the place where noble causes are pursued. i wish everyone well, and that is where i will end. [applause] [applause] >> after those jubilant themes it was back here. tony blair said there well before is setting off for buckingham palace to hand in his resignation to the queen. later that day, he ceased to be a prime minister. >> gordon brown went to

buckingham palace and was appointed prime minister. >> i will try my utmost. this is my promised to all of the people of britain. now, let the work of change begin. thank you. but no one could have expected what happened next. a car bomb was set off in central london. another at the air force. it was a baptism of fire for the new prime minister. there was flooding into the north and the self of england. a disease threatened to return. the prime minister was riding high in the polls. there was talk that david cameron might be ousted as

leader. >> as politicians gathered by the seaside, speculation was under way that gordon brown would call an election. just two days before parliament returned, gordon brown said that there would be no election that year. there was concern that the new prime minister had lost his nerve. >> the prime minister was asked, and on hard, if the polls showed a 100 seat majority would you still call of the election, and he said yes. does he expect anyone to believe that?

>> he was for grammar schools, then against them, then for them again. he was for parking charges, then against them. he was born museum charges, against them. i will take -- for museum charges, then against them. i will take no more elections from this prime minister. >> does he remember writing to this. it is in his best-selling book about courage. "as far back as i can remember, i have been fascinated by men and women of courage. stories of people who took a great decisions, especially when a far less dangerous a its alternatives or open it to them." does he realize what a phony he now looks like? >> there is a petition on the downing street website, and not

one of them is from the conservative bent. >> we will govern in the interests of the people. >> for 10 years he has seemed to have this job, and for what? no convictions, just calculations. last week he lost his political authority. this week he is losing his moral authority. how long are we going to have to wait before he makes way for the future? [shouts] >> this is the man who wanted to the end to the punch and judy show, the end to name calling. we are the government that has created 10 years of economic stability in this country. >> about economic stability was about to be put to a severe test. they knew america was going through a credit crunch. it could not come here, could

it? suddenly, there was the site of its lines of people desperate to pull money from the bank. the new chancellor agreed to a loan for it northern ireland. >> to protect the taxpayer, substantial sums have been lent, and this money has to be repaid. >> the fallout from the first bank run in 40 years get worse each week. today it has been another week of confusion from the chancellor of the checker. >> the government eventually nationalized the bank. >> things were about to get a

whole lot worse. millions of claims went missing in the post. when the chancellor made an announcement to comment -- to the commons, there was disbelief. >> it now appears that contrary to all procedures, at two password protected disks containing a full copy of sensitive data was sent to a national audit office by the internal post system. the package was not recorded or registered. mr. speaker, it appears that the data has failed to reach the addressee. >> then a group of former ministry chiefs piled on the agony with some comments about the chancellor.

. . a lot of order rather than order out of chaos.

does he not expect that the most damaging remark over the last week was with the chiefs, when they accused him of willfully neglecting the safety and the welfare of the young men and women who serve in the armed forces? >> mr. speaker, at every point in the job i am in, i will do everything in my power to defend and protect the security of the armed forces. >> something always lurks in the background of every parliament. this is designed to keep it in order. the constitution disappeared, only to be replaced by the lisbon treaty. one name was already being spoken of as a possible contender.

it may possibly not enjoy the support of gordon brown. >> i must warn minister that having tangled with tony blair on literally hundreds of occasions, i know his mind almost as well as they do. when he goes off to a major political conference and some taste refers to himself as a socialist, he is busily building coalitions like only he can, and we can all picture a scene sometime next year, picture the face of our poor prime minister as the name of tony blair is placed in nomination by one president after another. the nauseating praise losing from every head of government,

the rapid revelation of a majority view behind closed doors. never would he regret being in possession of a beto -- beto -- veto. s.c. realizes there is no option but to join in, and then there is the motorcade, the bitten nails, the prime minister emerging with a smile of intolerable anguish, the choking sensation as the words "mr. president" are called. and then, once in the cabinet room, the mellow drama.

>> after that, things were much less a jovial. there was a referendum on the treaty. >> on the house vote, we believe we want to argue that case. on the front foot, for the first time in a generation, to argue the case for europe. >> if you want to persuade the government, this is not the best way. >> as you are aware, the press is reporting that some of already resigned.

>> we want to update that with what? >> . 24 minutes. >> there have not been a repeat of the attacks on london, but by mid 2008, there had been terror plots that were nearly averted. they opted, instead, for 28 days, but gordon brown did not think that was adequate, and he wanted 42 days. >> not speaking english properly. what did the minister suggest i

say to them? >> the british people place their trust in us to take the right decision to protect us, and i cannot and will not wish away the threat of those whose name and still intent is to blow up our citizens of all races and religions on our streets. >> there are those who work on the front line. >> as one of the, part of the united kingdom which has suffered from terrorism over the last 30 years, and the threat to national security, and also any legislation --

>> things have been inflammatory in ireland. i am not saying that the 42 days equate to something, but clearly, the some things to come into play. >> parliament is going to be asked about a need for the maximum period of detention. how can that be done when it will rise at of particular cases? >> the vote is close. >> 306 no's.

>> as for the idea of 42 days of detention, that was crashed. this is what parliamentary people call the other place. >> there is no need because there is no increased threat. >> there is massive opposition to this suggestion. the suggested mechanisms or procedures, they are unworkable, and there is a risk. >> i am afraid i have to say the threat has increased, and that has been stated very clearly. the things that cross my desk regularly, i have to say, are not very daunting. we have to manage. >> and the overwhelmingly voted for an amendment which throw things out.

>> 309. so the contents have it. >> when gordon brown took over, he had an idea about how things should work. they quickly became known by an acronym. there are some well-known people. one man resign twice from tony blair's cabinet. the banking system was on the verge of collapse.

there are the days of the grandfather one man recounted. >> my grandfather spoke of the marshall plan. they were rebuilding the shattered economies. because now as then, the world must come together. >> and a few days later, where mandelson was -- -- ward mandelson -- the lord mandelson. [laughter] >> and during the guacamole

period of his life. -- entering. political courage. >> storms were gathering. the bankers move from being frantic. it was becoming a problem. the lehman brothers investment bank collapsed. in britain, minister is engaged in dealmaking. the chancellor tried to explain things. >> they want to rebuild the

banks. we want to do this as soon as is feasible possible. we will maintain our stake for as long as we can do that. >> even though the banking system has been on the verge of collapse, this is really the only option for the country. it might be necessary. we consider it constructively with the government on solving this financial crisis, but, of course, the scale of what the taxpayer is on the hook for is only just starting to don on the people. >> things were very different at a report three weeks later. the tories attacked. >> $78 billion pounds this year.

they will again be barring only to invest. >> there is a suggestion for the underlying budget deficit. >> no one can doubt now the prime minister's claim was one of the greatest decinces ever told the british people. the chancellor has just announced the largest undertaking, and what he did not admit is that he is going to

double the national debts to 1 trillion pounds, and national debt that has accumulated over centuries is going to double in just five years. >> this is a little bit like a celebrity heart surgeon. >> meanwhile, the patient is suffering. the banks are cutting credit. >> there was a fiscal stimulus. gordon brown seemed to get carried away. >> the first point was to save banks that would otherwise have collapsed. , and we not only saved the ñiñ/%ññibanks, we have --

pñ;r countries to save the banking system, but not one depositor lost money in britain, and that is the first thing. the second thing is to get banks in the position where they can resume lending, and this is why interest rates have come down by 3.5%, something the opposition said was not possible. >> by the beginning of 2009, the scale of the baking crisis was clear. but there were still some details that were yet to emerge. there was a former chief executive of the royal bank of scotland. there was a former banking chief to appear before the committee. as public anger mounted, --

>> you gave us the opportunity to repeat that we are profoundly, and i do not think we can sit unreservedly that with the time of events. all of us of lost a great deal of money. >> there is an apology and i'm very happy to repeated this morning. i am happy to do so again at the public meeting for our shareholders. i, too, would echo the comments that there is a profound and unqualified policy.

and not wish to see any of that whatsoever. we deliberately started our wouldn't -- our whigs in summation. shareholders, many of whom are colleagues, which we live for and serve, we are extremely sorry. >> the democrats had elected a new leader. he made little impression. but in 2009, there were changes. >> is it honest or decent to say that?

he knows full well that the freel is a veteran cannot do that. can he not see that there is a simple moral principle? if they died for this country, surely they should live in this country. >> there was euphoria. the government suffered embarrassment. the change of policy followed. >> if you bought a "the daily telegraph" on that date, you probably did not realize that you were witnessing the biggest political scandal ever to hit westminster. they were publishing details of a handful of mp's finances, and

it came out in a very limited form. events quickly moved way beyond the control of politicians. "the daily telegraph" had gotten everything, and days of coverage followed. it was ludicrous, bizarre, and plane outrageous, and they struggled with their explanations. the public went from fascinated to disbelieving to plain angry. as one mp spoke -- >> it is easy to say to the press, it "this should not happen." and then do nothing else.

responsibilities. >> we are in a climate now where any nonsense can be written about anybody and drag them down. >> that we keep our heads. >> public anger grew at a staggering rate. by the following monday, the time for explorations -- explanations was over. >> and in doing so, please allow me to say that we have gone down very badly and deep. and to this extent, i have contributed to the situation. i am profoundly sorry.

each and every member, including myself, must work hard to regain your trust. >> no confidence in you, sir, will appear in the paper tomorrow. am i right to think that it will be voted upon tomorrow? this is calling for a vote of no-confidence in you. there is the legitimacy. >> it becomes a substantial motion. >> there is, as you say, and great public anger out there.

we all bear responsibility. i take my share of the responsibility. i am not affiliated with the motion, sir. i say it with reluctance. if you gave some indication of you're willing to retire, your early retirement would help the reputation of the house. >> that is not a subject for today. >> a subject for tomorrow. tuesday, may 19, 2009. >> order, order. >> since i came to this house years ago, i always felt the house was at its best, and order and unity can be maintained if

i relinquish the office of speaker in june. this will allow the house to proceed to elect a new speaker on monday, june 22. that is all i have to say on this matter. >> michael martin became the first speaker in 300 years to be forced to resign. more to follow. the plesac content is set for a new commons speaker -- there was a contest. >> john, . 22. -- 322. sir john -- >> the newly elected

man became the 152nd speaker of the house of commons. >> i should like to thank and pay our heartfelt tribute to all the candidates who stood in this election. >> mr. speaker elect, you have an enormous challenge. never has parliament in the subject of so much anger and dismay. the need for change is, quite simply, unprecedented. >> you said that you would now cast aside all of your past political views, and some of us thought you had done that some time ago. [laughter] >> i believe that the contributions today -- will we

have to do is move forward. mr. speaker-elect, it is quite clear that you received a mandate towards that end. >> today, i think we saw parliament at its best. kenworth the candidates, 10 very good speakers, and one very worthy winner. >> the scandal produced a strong desire to clean up politics. in march of this year, there was a set of changes. they will be much less controlled by government. there are new rules on what can and cannot be claimed. the next parliament should be super clean. >> no one can look back on this parliament without reflecting on afghanistan. in 2009, all but a handful of

british military personnel finally came home at the end of operations that had been grooming, dangerous at the end of the saddam hussein situation. as the number of troops in iraq slowly diminish, the numbers in afghanistan were slowly rising they have gone up from 500 to 9000. military personnel were at risk for roadside bombs. it now is more than 270. >> i'd think it is right that we should pause for the member of our armed services -- i think it is right. this is a solemn moment for this house and our country.

this is a day that we put on record in the house of commons are commemoration of the sacrifice made by 37 of our armed forces serving our country in afghanistan. from the marines, a sergeant. from another, a trooper. from the second will take richmond, a trooper. >> "prime minister's questions" had not always been successful for gordon brown. it is quite a bit different from presenting budgets, the job used to have. gordon brown seemed to discover a different approach. as the election looms, the prime minister got in some jobs of his own. there was an apparently airbrushed picture of the tory leader david cameron. >> i think i should begin by

saying he looks very different than the poster. >> if you can i get your photograph right, is pretty difficult to get your policies right, as well. mr. speaker, we announced last week, plans to improve education in our community, third lead for jobs for offshore power, and fourthly, we announced a new strategy. this is a government that is moving forward with quality. >> he stood there week after week and denied what everyone knew, that there will be spending cuts. the chancellor now says these cuts will be the deepest for 20 years. will the prime minister repeat those words? >> mr. speaker, he is getting

even much rhetoric many is in this photograph. -- much redder than he is in this photograph. >> there were a frantic couple of days. the bills were passed into law. they worked late into the night to get things done, not to everyone's satisfaction. >> changing the constitution. >> there were rapid agreements, and the government lost large sections of t-bills, a finance bill. there was a plan for a gradual removal, and so, it came to an end. for many of them, the ceremony brought to a formal end things.

>> the constitutional reform and governments act. >> and with that, the commissioners dismissed parliamentarians. >> by virtue of her majesty's commission, we do, it in her majesty's name, provide this parliament to the 25th day of april, and this parliament -- >> they shook hands with the speaker. for some, it was emotional. so there it was, five busy years in parliament, going from

triumph to disaster. >> mp 's have returned to their constituents. many are standing down. but we will see the reactions of voters at the ballot box in a few weeks' time. >> what we do know is whoever is prime minister, some other familiar faces will be gone. >> will be back to report on the 55th parliament. we look forward to seeing you then. but for now, goodbye. >> it has been a great honor to serve. and i am grateful to all those who elected me and gave me a chance to serve. >> i am simply following my mentor, tony blair. >> politics is still the most important thing for anyone to do. >> i find my uppermost sentiment

is one of relief. >> i think this is a fantastique chamber, a fantastic place for debate to be joined, and that is only a second to the scottish parliament. >> our liberties. it is what ought to matter most of all at the end of the day. >> and remember, they never remain in place for long. when politics fails, others invariably takeover. >> the great thing about democracy is that we are not actually trying to kill each other. >> a result of the ballot box, one side wins, one side loses. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> up next on c-span, a discussion on the future of innovation and the economy with arianna huffington and the chair of the president's council of economic advisers, christina romer. then, how the obama administration as impact the public, and then later, supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg. >> "on "washington journal," --

on "washington journal," josh rogin. also, dennis quaid. that is on "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern. tomorrow, george washington university is the host of an event that is live starting at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >> my philosophy is to ask questions. >> after 34 years on the supreme court, justice john paul stevens will step down when the court finishes its work for the summer, and the best place to explore his life and legacy is at the new c-span library, with more than 80 appearances dating back to 1985. search it and share it, the c-

span video library, cables latest gift to america. >> c-span, our public affairs content is available on television, radio, and online, and you can also connect with us on twitter and facebook and youtube, and sign up for hour alert emails at c-span.org. -- for our alert emails. >> arianna huffington and christina romer. among the topics, what the u.s. can learn from japan and china and the outlook for the economy. this lasts about two hours.

>> everyone knows some of these people. more of a cyber destination many as an individual. he travels with and around the world ticket. >> sort of a latter-day version of the flying dutchman. >> that is right. 20 years ago, there was the phrase coined, "culture is

destiny. it we used to explain -- it was used to explain how an economy grew. it was extraordinary in the world of international development. shouted out to if you know. yes? the reason why? it allows people to do office work, white collar work.

our panel today is taking a similar approach. place, ergo, progress. let me just started off with the panel. what do you think? >> anybody who has spent time in silicon valley knows that it feels different. venture-capital that you can get access to very quickly. people who learn from one another. there are people and institutions there and make it different than any place in the world. there are places that are very innovative. they have characteristics, institutions. >> you could argue that one of america's biggest assets is that

culture, that we have a culture that is still relatively for giving a failure and encourages the wild eyed dreamer in their garage to make things happen. , and there are very few places in the world like that. i think you may find it in tel aviv. the fact that there are dozens out there trying to pursue a national innovation agenda presents us with a really delicious situation, because, in a way, everyone of these is how to make use of an indigenous assets. and then, how to ran those out the how to around those out? >> the world being flat as tools

that allow you -- i am setting up a fund in singapore, something they copied from israel, and i have someone else working with a bunch of korean to buy things from taiwan to sell into the united states. my investors are arabs in japanese and americans and estonians, and others. it is the weird petrie dish which is japan. the reason i'm doing this in singapore is that they will give my syrians passports just as easily as some others. in is really easy now because of all the air travel, the internet -- >> and the air-conditioning. >> and the air conditioning. that is the point. it is making the diversity much more interesting.

>> we want to talk about accessibility and the issue of the world being flat. as we know, it is not. it is a sphere, balanced on the back of a turtle. the issue really is to build context as an added-value component. that does not mean that the system is a point. we have to learn that the people in this place is a matter as potential entities. we were talking earlier about solutions for structural problems. well, those solutions are the people, so the context of those people, in enabling them to innovate better, is going to be the solution to those problems. >> thanks for coming.

>> what the people would recommend, and i think empowering people around the world, you could go through labor markets and skill. you could start working on that. obviously, the one you know a lot about is intellectual property protections. that is a huge one. >> i am going to divorce lightly with police say. >> and other silicon valley. >> well, john and i have studied finland. it is high in every ranking.

they have this model. they have a great connectivity, with every measure. they are great. they have a product industry, and then they have a telecommunications industry, which is one country, which has followed a strategy, and the optimized, and they are really good at cranking out low-cost devices. i am sure there is somebody to tell me there is a lot of innovation going on, but up until now, they have had a hard time. and so, they have captured korean market share. it is not innovation in products as much as cutting the price. >> can i add one thing, though? talking about serendipity is a really important thing. when you look at the rise in different regions, it was very

unintentional. the japanese have chosen something. the fact that japan crippled itself gave opportunity to other countries. all of the accounts in to buy are sudanese -- into by -- in dubai are sudanese. it is usually not because of a great government program. it is usually because one guy talk to another guy. this is a that innovating and development. >> not everything you said.

>> we are on the verge of risking in a sense what is a theological debate, because i heard these comments earlier about the instability at the micro level. one of the interesting things is a very interesting two dozen countries. these are experiments with varying degrees in creating a context for innovation. if you look at china, china has a brute-force strategy. they are investing in universities and engineers and ph.d. is like there is no tomorrow. there is a guy ran into a couple weeks ago. i had a meeting in tel aviv, and one province has 47 million people, so that is 3% of the chinese population.

they have 122 technologically and scientifically oriented university, and that is the scale at which things are moving in other parts of the world, so not all of these are in line approaches. there is a certain nostalgia for the industrial era, counting things, but all are searching for in a way a balanced to enable the bubbling up of a nation while at the same time creating the right amount of direction to enable larger-scale things to happen. a lot of the things we're talking about in terms of the global problems that are on the table are not going to give salt because two each right 1 $5 million checked with entrepreneurs in menlo park -- one $5 million che3ck. --

check. so, you know, of course, is a theological debate is, but, you know, government has no role or should not. you have an in scrutable process -- inscrutable. and then we have to a public policy to drive in regional allocation of resources. of course, it is summer in between. in my view. -- somewhere in between. >> a like client. >> cinnamon sticks. >> -- like wind -- wine.

there is the need for divorced kennedy's -- diverse entities. can we reduce them substantially? there is an absolute and fundamental misunderstanding of the process. korea celebrated those who have managed to get through the entry phase -- we have celebrated. but the truth is, we are working in a black box. there was an excellent piece a few years ago in which there was a metaphor of maritime navigation, and, frankly, where we are now is very much the merchant empires, where they were. a lack of understanding from one

place to another. whether it be scholarly literature, intellectual property, regulatory information, this is aggregated, extraordinarily opaque, very well articulated from data into knowledge. we lack the cartography of the innovation space. most players cannot compete. but costs are high. when the costs are high, only a few of us get to play. identify this as being the big province that will take us all down. we have to engage in the democratization in that process. >> disclose information. i want to say that they all grew

very quickly. we are basically all of the same place. this is to interact to solve the problems. >> there was arbitrage. the second of that was producing, as always. all they have to do now is to mass produce it.

>> i would challenge this. this may be true in some areas where publishing and transparency are part of the academic culture or sort of collaborative culture, but there are other areas which a thing some societies maintained some capabilities. we have got tim brown here who wrote a book on the design thinking, so you look at countries like finland, who are becoming a user-centered design platform, with research capabilities to some of the will to say, how do you take next generation vital services to another level. -- to another level? and while the knowledge they

have spread out in terms of what you can read, the actual knowledge is skills and doing that work, and i would argue that it is still in some respects spread out. >> i disagree. i was born to come back with something that joanie said. -- i was going to come back and say something else. one of the things was the fiber- optic cable. the thing i am concerned about is you say you can get the innovation and then scale it. talking about development broadly, talking about africa. because of the barriers that

exist -- >> can i? i am also an internet entrepreneur. the barriers, everything on the internet has lowered friction, allowed people to compete and participate, and each layer of friction removal has lowered the costs, which lowers the cost of failure, which also allows participants in areas that do not have as much capital, and there is also the amount of money you need to get in a. that has gone down significantly, even in the last five years. what that does is changes the nature of venture capital. i can good africa and start making bets now, and there is the next layer that we need to strip out. it is more difficult with patents and copyright.

as to start lowering costs and get at scale -- a korea was trying to figure something out. a kid came out with a nokia telephone, and when it stops working, it sends a message. there is all of that low-cost technology and innovation. africans being able to text each other. there is really cool innovation, and it scales. >> i think you are right. i agree with you. what you're saying is as we hit obstacles, like international property rights, we put them back because those innovations will not skill unless you remove the obstacles. there is a lot of innovative capability, but there are a lot

of places that are still poor, institutional, and that is -- >> what i find interesting is this arbitrage thing. like, in dubai, 90 percent of the people are ex pats. i can get passports for anyone in singapore. it is in striking range, a six- hour or seven-hour flight, and they make it easy. so that is kind of infrastructure place. >> in the chart, you have lots of countries. singapore is not on there. what happened? >> i think a lot of the stuff they are doing on the venture side is experimental. they are looking how did israel figure out.

for me, personally, some of the barriers that i find in africa and the middle east, i can solve them by dragging those entrepreneurs to singapore for a couple of years, where there are lower barriers. >> that is interesting. maybe we should go back to culture. singapore did a really good job in korean mass production for those capabilities. it is going to be hard for them to switch. >> and another ingredient in singapore, however, is government policy. i am sure you have come across this. there is this notion of polishing the jewels. the operating function is we're not going to have a lot of a.g.,

california-style entrepreneurs, our indigenous population, but we want to attract them once they germinate an attractive value and attract them to set up r&d or regional headquarters or whatever. another interesting thing about singapore's strategy is that they are targeting the global class. there are these plans to actually increase the population of singapore quite dramatically, because singaporeans are not known for their reproductive rate, and there is some benefit of scale, and is the notion of equality of innovation will follow some degree of arbitrage, attracting entrepreneurs there who want their jewels polished. i am just say what their plan is. >> the idea of polishing jewels is actually anti -- it is a

technical a recipe for optimization. >> to the point of all countries are operating on the basis of where they are culturally and historically and socially, so for singapore, that may actually be a very rational move to build capability for the long term given the fact that there are not thousands of people who are eagerly awaiting to do that. >> maybe, but you're also in an environment that is very wealthy. ideas are not respected. >> and people are not going to move there. ever since i read a book about the global migration, people come to me and say, "how can we get immigrants?" let me finish my story though. [laughter]