When you get talking to people in positions of power, you find that often their worldview is framed either in terms of their disciplinary studies at university and/or the country where they first got interest in development.

There are always pressures on decision-makers other than just what is right or what is wrong.

There's a diversion between economic reality - integration, global village, everybody depending on everybody else - and cultural reality, which is people feeling invaded, undermined, threatened, wanting to have "stand-your-ground" legislation all over the place. It's alarming because at the moment, the fear is outweighing the benefits, and that's partially because the benefits have been so unequally distributed that lots of people don't feel better off. They feel threatened, angry and despairing.

What you don't do is just say, "I've got all the ideas and all the knowledge, and listen to me."

To be effective at selling ideas, at being a lobbyist, influencing other people, you have to be very sure of yourself.

Lots of people in the open system are very determined to try and strengthen evidence-based policy.

The magic formula is there is no magic formula.