7.
There is also another way in which
Britain can help Hong Kong. This concerns
an issue which is at present being fought out
in Britain.
Hong Kong is in the Sterling Area.
It is essential that sterling should
be made strong again. This depends largely
on Britain putting her own house in order.
May I for a few moments speak about this?
There are some who speak of Britain
as though she were a sick nation. They look
back with nostalgia to a Britain who within
living memory was the world's major imperial
power.
8.
(In passing, this in itself was an
illusion, because her strength was relative to
that of other nations.) But two world wars
and the transition from Empire to Commonwealth,
have radically changed Britain's role in the
world.
If we can be blamed, it is for being
slow to realize this. On the one hand we
have sought for too long to maintain overseas
commitments beyond our resources, and on
the other hand we have adjusted far too slowly
to the realities of world economic changes.
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