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. – 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. – Geoff Mulgan
In Britain, polls show large majorities in favour of mansion taxes and higher taxes on the finance sector. – Geoff Mulgan
A modest dose of self-love is entirely healthy – who would want to live in a world where everyone hated themselves? But taken too far, it soon becomes poisonous. – Geoff Mulgan
Cities simply don’t have the powers they need to radically innovate in cutting obesity or the number of disaffected teenagers. – Geoff Mulgan
The most dynamic cities have always been immersed in the critical innovations of their time. – Geoff Mulgan
As the Internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways. – Geoff Mulgan
Science is, rightly, searching for drugs to arrest ageing or to slow the advance of dementia. But the evidence suggests that many of the most powerful factors determining how you age come from what you do, and what you do with others: whether you work, whether you play music, whether you have regular visitors. – Geoff Mulgan
The idea of entrepreneurship applies as much in politics, religion, society and the arts as it does in business. – Geoff Mulgan
I didn’t much like being in Parliament physically. I found it a bit depressing. It’s very dark and heavy. I like being out and about. – Geoff Mulgan
Governments that invest billions in new hardware still find it hard to accept that they might benefit just as much from systematic innovation in such things as child development or cutting crime. – Geoff Mulgan
The wrongful arrest of tens of thousands of British Muslims after the September 11 attacks can be explained by the very poor intelligence the police had, and, just possibly, excused by the fact that a terrorist action in Britain linked to British Muslims would have been hugely damaging. – Geoff Mulgan
As with products on supermarket shelves, the public has a right to know where their financial products and services come from. – Geoff Mulgan
The responsibility for good government lies not just with governments themselves but also with every other part of the system they operate in, including media, non-governmental organisations and the public. – Geoff Mulgan
Societies can easily talk themselves into conflict and misery. But they can also talk, and act, their way out. – Geoff Mulgan
L’Oreal’s slogan ‘because you’re worth it’ has come to epitomise banal narcissism of early 21st century capitalism; easy indulgence and effortless self-love all available at a flick of the credit card. – Geoff Mulgan
Recycling is an area where jobs could be created at low cost. Green collar workers. That’s not very sexy. – Geoff Mulgan
There is incredible potential for digital technology in and beyond the classroom, but it is vital to rethink how learning is organised if we are to reap the rewards. – Geoff Mulgan
Governments should want and even crave the best possible scientific advice. With reliable knowledge come better decisions, fewer mistakes and more results achieved for each pound spent. – Geoff Mulgan
Health is already a dominant sector in most societies and the one most guaranteed to grow. – Geoff Mulgan
Everyone knows of great projects that were too dependent on a charismatic individual, or simply too expensive to be replicated. – Geoff Mulgan
Many of the greatest composers and musicians do their best work in extreme confinement but we are seeing it in other fields – uses of technology to link people together in networks to solve problems and almost certainly we’ll get better ideas than we would from them just doing it on their own. – Geoff Mulgan
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. – Geoff Mulgan
