“On the environment and climate change, I suspect that future generations will think there was too much timidity, too much fear of upsetting business. Basically, New Labour was very nervous about regulating business, or requiring it to do anything, even when there was a very clear social or environmental case for doing so.” ThinkingSocialCasesClearEnvironmentToo MuchGenerationsClimateEnvironmentalClimate ChangeNervousUpsetLabourSuspectsFuture GenerationTimidity Author:Geoff Mulgan
“Over 5,000 years, states have made surprisingly consistent claims about their duties. They have promised to protect people from threats; promote their welfare; deliver justice and also, perhaps less obviously, uphold truth - originally truths about the cosmos, and more recently truths drawn from reason and knowledge.” PeopleYearsMadeStatesReasonJusticeDutyProtectClaimsThreatWelfareConsistentCosmos Author:Geoff Mulgan
“So is civil society prepared for the future? Probably not. Most organisations have to live hand to mouth, juggling short-term funding and perpetual minor crises. Even the bigger ones rarely get much time to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Many are on a treadmill chasing after contracts and new funding.” LooksHandsTermMouthsBiggerCrisisPreparedContractsPerpetualMinorsChasingShort TermFundingOrganisationCivil SocietyJugglingTreadmillsBigger Picture Author:Geoff Mulgan
“Social innovation thrives on collaboration; on doing things with others, rather than just to them or for them: hence the great interest in new ways of using the web to 'crowdsource' ideas, or the many experiments involving users in designing services.” WayIdeasSocialInterestDesignInnovationExperimentsThriveCollaborationUsersNew WaysInvolvingSocial Innovation Author:Geoff Mulgan
“The once-science-fiction notion of hyper-connectivity - where we are all constantly connected to social networks and other bubbling streams of digital data - has rapidly become a widespread reality.” RealitySocialFictionScience FictionNotionConnectedDataStreamsDigitalSocial NetworkHyper Author:Geoff Mulgan
“The really interesting moment will be when you have a critical mass of people engaging through the networks, more than through the press and TV. When that happens, the culture of politics has to change, moving away from controlled one-way messages towards a political culture that is more questioning.” PeopleWayMomentsHappensMovingPoliticalCultureInterestingTvsMessagesMassPressesCriticalOne WayControlledQuestioningEngagingReally InterestingMoving AwayCritical MassPolitical Culture Author:Geoff Mulgan
“There are hardly any apprenticeships in care; hardly any schools preparing teenagers for jobs in care; and few signs that politicians know what to do to raise the status and rewards for what will soon be one of our most important industries.” KnowsImportantCareSchoolJobsIndustryPoliticianRaisesRewardsTeenagerPreparingApprenticeship Author:Geoff Mulgan
“There is a yearning for people to return to elementary moral virtues, such as integrity and commitment. We distrust people who have no centering of values. We greatly respect businessmen, for example, if they display those virtues, even if we don't necessarily agree with the people.” PeopleIfsValuesMoralVirtueExampleReturnIntegrityCommitmentAgreeYearningDisplayBusinessmanDistrustMoral VirtuesCentering Author:Geoff Mulgan
“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.” PeopleWayUnderstandingSimpleTechnologyCarDrugCapitalismRewardsCreatorValuableFirmMakersImaginativeGood FoodProvidersValuable Things Author:Geoff Mulgan
“Young people who were relaxed about posting every detail of their life on Facebook become a lot less relaxed when they realise just how transparent their life has become to future employers.” PeopleYoungDetailsRealisingRelaxedEmployersTransparent Author:Geoff Mulgan
“Teenagers learn best by doing things, they learn best in teams and they learn best by doing things for real - all the opposite of what mainstream schooling actually does.” ChildrenDoeRealInspirationMotivationLearningTeamOppositesTeenagerMainstreamSchooling Author:Geoff Mulgan
“One of the lessons of history is that even the deepest crises can be moments of opportunity. They bring ideas from the margins into the mainstream.” InspirationalIdeasMomentsMotivationalOpportunityHistoryLessonsCrisisMainstreamMargins Author:Geoff Mulgan
“The central position of finance capital is going to come to an end, and it's going to steadily move to the sides, the margins of our society, transformed from being a master into a servant, a servant to the productive economy and of human needs.” NeedsHumansEndsInspirationMovingMotivationSidesEconomyPositionMastersFinanceServantProductiveOur SocietyTransformedMarginsHuman Needs Author:Geoff Mulgan
“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.” IfsYearsLooksImportantAmericaGrowthEconomicImportant ThingsGet BetterProportionQuartersHealthcareEconomic Growth Author:Geoff Mulgan
