I would not be opposed to devising a new system of pensions, in which one part was based on collective provision, but which also gave incentives for people to take out an additional, personal plan.

The European model is in danger if we obliterate the principle of personal responsibility.

My problem is how to find the best way of being useful.

Even in Britain, the trade unions tell me that employment contracts have less protection than in the past.

This desire for equity must not lead to an excess of welfare, where nobody is responsible for anything.

The unions may continue to decline, but if they do, it'll be their fault.

The problem of how we finance the welfare state should not obscure a separate issue: if each person thinks he has an inalienable right to welfare, no matter what happens to the world, that's not equity, it's just creating a society where you can't ask anything of people.