Geoff Mulgan
Geoff Mulgan
Geoff Mulgan CBEis Chief Executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts and Visiting Professor at University College London, the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne. Previously he was:...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionEducator
citizens directly messages states
States which used to communicate directly to their citizens now do so through the media, where their messages are reshaped by the logics of news values and commentary.
honours monarchy palaces
Radicalism is as British as tea and cakes, as much a part of our make-up as monarchy and football. It will never have its own jubilees, palaces or honours system.
biases compass contain favour love moral plenty protect rich steely themselves whatever
Most governments do have inbuilt biases in favour of the rich and powerful, and most do contain plenty of manipulators who love intrigue, who have lost whatever moral compass they may once have had and who protect themselves with steely cynicism.
charities people provider
People don't want charities to usurp the state as the core provider of social services.
collective turns
The market turns out to be just one special case of collective decision-making.
easily societies themselves
Societies can easily talk themselves into conflict and misery. But they can also talk, and act, their way out.
attic classic grand supposed
The classic think-tank is supposed to be sitting in an attic thinking up grand ideas.
academia brought charge civil complex crops dissecting gm government including nuclear outside people problems schools science servant solving strategy work
As a civil servant in charge of the government's Strategy Unit, I brought in many people from outside government, including academia and science, to work in the unit, dissecting and solving complex problems from GM crops to alcohol, nuclear proliferation to schools reform.
vigorous
Vigorous independent and critical media are indispensable in a democracy.
innovation economy bits
Societies advance through innovation every bit as much as economies do.
technology imagination people
The most important innovators often don't need any technologies - just imagination and acute sensitivity to people's needs.
technology people empowerment
The smug complacency of technology adverts disguises a pretty mixed picture, with too many people not connected, too many passive users of technologies designed for interactive, and far too much talk about empowerment but far too little action to make it happen.
technology simple car
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.
attachment choices parks
The biggest barrier to dealing with climate change is us: our own attachment to habits that are hard to shift, and our great ability to park or ignore uncomfortable choices.