Think for a moment: what is the British equivalent of the U.S. Fourth of July, or even the French 14th of July for that matter?

In the weeks and months ahead, my task is to show I have the new ideas, the vision and the experience to earn the trust of the British people.

I did maths for a year at university. I don't think I was very good at it. And some people would say it shows.

Take, therefore, what modern technology is capable of: the power of our moral sense allied to the power of communications and our ability to organize internationally. That, in my view, gives us the first opportunity as a community to fundamentally change the world.

If our economies are to flourish, if global poverty is to be banished, and if the wellbeing of the world's people enhanced - not just in this generation but in succeeding generations - we must make sure we take care of the natural environment and resources on which our economic activity depends.

We had lost the art of communication - but not, alas, the gift of speech.

Our approach is to reject the old vicious circle of the '80s-rising debt, higher long-term interest rates, higher debt repayment costs, lower growth, higher unemployment, then enforced cuts in public spending. That was the old boom and bust.