Smeared Type

 

I recently had the honor of introducing The Rt Hon The Lord Patten of Barnes, CH, the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, at a meeting of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.  Chris Patten was elected as a Member of the UK Parliament in May 1979, a seat he held until April 1992.  He had previously been a personal assistant and political secretary to both Lord Carrington and Lord Whitelaw when they were Chairman of the British Conservative Party from 1972 to 1974.

 

Following the UK general election of June 1983, Chris Patten received a number of ministerial and cabinet appointments from Margaret Thatcher and John Major until November 1990 when he became Chairman of the Conservative Party.

 

In April 1992, he was appointed Governor of Hong Kong, a position he held until 1997, overseeing the return of Hong Kong to China.  From 1999 to 2004, Chris Patten was European Commissioner for External Relations and in January 2005, he took his Seat in the House of Lords.

 

Chris Patten spoke without notes for over an hour on a wide range of issues and challenges of the 21st Century, based upon his very broad global experience.  Having been an attendee at the recent G20 Conference in London, he expressed his admiration for President Obama, his vision, intelligence, and communication skills, which he believes are needed more than ever during this period of American history.

 

As and when the world recovers from this American-made global financial crisis, Chris Patten believes we will enter a new era.  The post Second World War period of American dominance, both economically and militarily, will diminish.  40% of the world’s population lives in India and China, who both have economies and populations that are exploding.  He sees the world changing from US dominance to cooperation of four main economic power houses, the U.S. Europe, India and China.  Cooperation, he believes, will be essential to meet the challenges of the future – growth in population, scarcity of water resources, food production, health issues, and control of natural resources.

 

He pointed out that President Obama had, in one of his speeches, clearly stated that, in this “new world,” America’s voracious appetite for consumer goods will diminish and dramatic changes will be made in lifestyles, use of natural resources, particularly energy, food production, and health care.  He believes that China will be the driving force of economic growth, followed by India with the US and Europe making a much smaller contribution. 

 

China however faces many difficulties, including political control, use of food and natural resources, pollution, poor health, and scarcity of water.  

 

India’s problems revolve around a population explosion, extreme poverty, lack of education, corruption, and bureaucratic inefficiency. 

 

He believed that the European Union will continue to grow economically, but the political difficulties will not be resolved easily.  This, he stated, was exasperated by what he described as “odd” leadership within the main countries of the EU.  Where else could a Berlusconi be elected other than in Italy, a country that luckily seems to govern itself without a government?

 

President Sarkozy, he described as an unpredictable firecracker going off in different directions, and he had no kind words for Gordon Brown.  He believed that only Angela Merkel of Germany possessed one of the main benefits of good political leadership – she is always underestimated.

 

Chris Patten’s comments were followed by a lot of lively questions – all of which he answered eloquently with numerous references to books on a wide variety of intellectual and economic subjects.

 

It was certainly a pleasurable experience for all concerned to listen to the thoughts and observations of a man with a true world vision.

 

 

Ellis M. Goodman, author of Bear Any Burden: www.bearanyburden.com

Tags: 21st Century, House of Lords, The Rt Hon The Lord Patten of Barnes

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