Chris Patten
Chris Patten
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes CH PCis chancellor of the University of Oxford and a former governor of Hong Kong and the BBC Trust...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth12 May 1944
clearly expected
Clearly we will be expected to make a substantial contribution (to the reconstruction effort),
majority mandate people speak
The new administration must be broad-based with a mandate to speak for a majority of the people of Afghanistan,
military argument moments
Of course, there were huge disagreements in the arguments of military intervention, .. There is no point at the moment on focusing on those disagreements.
problem said difficult
It is almost always wrong that the time isn't ripe to decide something. That is always said of difficult problems.
men people territory
Throwing young men out of work, throwing people into poverty and ending business life don't promote stability in the Palestinian territories,.
police needs doe
All parts of the society need to feel that the police service is their police service, and that does not happen unless all parts of society are represented in the police
yugoslavia trying recreation
We're not trying to recreate Yugoslavia
freedom democracy jerk
In democracy everyone has the right to be represented, even the jerks.
tribes language affair
It behaves more like a tribe than a democratic institution...responding to custom rather than reason and using its own liturgy and language for the conduct of its domestic affairs.
atheist curious
It is curious that atheists have proved to be so intolerant of those who have a faith.
writing government important
We have our own system, ... and journalists in our system are not put in prison for embarrassing the government by revealing things the government might not wish to have revealed. The important thing is that our system, under which journalists can write without fear or favor, should continue.
cutting thinking vulgarity-is
I think that what most surprises anybody who goes into politics from even a modestly cerebral background is the vulgarity of much of the cut and thrust of politics.
people principles accommodations
So, what I say to people is that politics has got to be about principle and values above all. Of course, there are times when you have to make accommodations.
thinking essence political
But the ability to articulate what you are doing, to be clear about it, and to stick to it is, I think, the essence of political leadership.