The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

There are huge movements of humanity underway at present. 200 million Chinese have moved from the countryside to the city in the last 10 years – the greatest migration in human history. In the next 10 years, if the speakers at the conference I am attending are to be believed, that record will be smashed. 300 million will migrate from the Indian countryside to the cities.

That means that, 10 years from now, 60% of all inhabitants of Indian cities will be newcomers. The cities themselves will inevitably have been transformed. $320 billion will be required in infrastructure investment alone, and then there is the question of all that housing…

Such a pace and scale of change is a huge challenge. It certainly puts Britain’s problems in perspective.