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Question: Governor, could I ask you, of all those wonderful things you have to say about Hong Kong and in your years here, what would be the most single important factor that you feel would have the highest value in being able to transport it from Hong Kong back to the Britain of today?
Governor: Enthusiasm. I think that what Hong Kong happily lacks is that sort of world weary cynicism which has had such an effect, I think, on European and British and to some extent on American politics. You can make a living in Europe or America proving that nothing can be done. You can make an even better living, commenting on proving that nothing can be done. One of the exciting things, well, for me, the most exciting thing about Hong Kong is to see people in every walk of life who really do believe that they can make things better for themselves through their own efforts. That's partly the reason why envy is so absent from the political debate by and large in Hong Kong. In most OECD countries, in most Western societies, envy has become in a way a description of fiscal policy. That's absent in Hong Kong, and the result of that is that people do make things better for themselves year by year. We all know that the impossible happens, that we do get the Convention Centre built on time, that we do build those spectacular bridges where five years ago when I was standing on that site, there were only bits of white tape on the ground. We do know that despite all the problems just up the road, Hong Kong has created this stable and prosperous society, this decent society in the last few years. I guess those are qualities that our Victorian forbearers would have recognised very well, and I hope that they are qualities that aren't lost as Hong Kong becomes more accustomed to its prosperity. If Hong Kong can hang on to that enthusiasm, can hang on to that commitment to progress, belief in itself, belief in the possibilities of individual men and women doing better, if it can hang on to that, there's nothing that can stop it.