Greetings from New York

I arrived in New York last night. I so love this place - it really is so full of energy and colour. I met some people for Dinner last night and was walking around Broadway at around 10pm. The thing that really struck me was how many languages I heard in just 10 minutes.

Being the child of immigrants to the United Kingdom, and believing in free markets, I have always held the view that the freedom of movement of labour brings large economic gains.

The US unlike any other country has managed to become a terrific melting pot and an example to many about how integration can work. Within three weeks of this Blog, the incumbent of the White House could be black. The child of a Kenyan farmer (he never knew his father - like Bill Clinton) whose family survived on food stamps and experienced real poverty (again like Bill Clinton).

This is where the US is so different from the UK and I suspect most of Europe. 1992 was the first election in the UK where none of the leaders of the political parties went to Oxford or Cambridge University - almost half of all MP’s went to the same elite private school (In the UK we have a perverse way of describing elite private schools as public schools).

Where is the next European Obama going to come from? Forget Politics, the US has a great track record of giving access to minorities to ‘elitist’ sports. Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters stand out as shining examples.

My point is that the US is living proof that talent exists everywhere and competition is healthy. I think there is a lot wrong with the US - the notable problems being the gun culture (although per capita the Swiss have more guns than the US) and the complex health care situation that leaves tens of millions of working Americans with no health cover.

However, I do believe that competition is healthy providing there is a minimum safety net for individuals. Many Entrepreneurs are that because they are unemployable! (they would admit that themselves). As a society, we must do what we can to ensure people have opportunities. This is the one thing that Americans seem to excel at.

I am in Canada later this week to talk about the EIS scheme and to try and encourage the government there to adopt a similar scheme. I do think it is economically the right thing to do to encourage Angel investing. I also believe it is morally the right thing.

We have a lot to teach the US but we have a lot to learn from the US as well.

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