The most important innovators often don't need any technologies - just imagination and acute sensitivity to people's needs.

Spreading an idea is hard work.

I'm not saying [economic] growth is wrong, but throughout the years of growth, many things didn't get better. ... If you look at America, the proportion of Americans with no one to talk to about important things went up from a tenth to a quarter.

The City of London has never been known for understanding technology and has never matched Silicon Valley's tradition of knowledgeable investment in technology start-ups, just as the U.K. government has never matched the vast investment made by the U.S. government.

All of nationalism can be understood as a kind of collective narcissism.

Understanding capitalism is in some ways simple. At its best, capitalism rewards creators, makers and providers: the people and firms that create valuable things for others, like imaginative technologies and good food, cars and drugs.

In Britain, polls show large majorities in favour of mansion taxes and higher taxes on the finance sector.