Jeremy Hunt

I think basic skills... It needs communication.

But basic skills like reading and maths are going to be fundamental because what AI is going to do is mean people do several different careers in their life and constantly need to retrain.

And if you can't read, retraining is very, very hard.

Well, I think overall, I genuinely think that our state schools have really transformed over the last three decades.

In many cases, they're better than independent schools, which cost a lot of money.

But the bit that I think we've got wrong is that the 50% of school leavers who don't go to university, and our universities have done very well overall, but...

If they were in Switzerland or Singapore or Germany, they would leave with vocational skills that meant they could be confident they would earn the average income for the country, which in the UK is about £39,000.

Not immediately, but over the course of their working life, they would be able to build up to that average.

And I don't think we give that cohort, the people who don't go to university, the practical skills.

I couldn't agree with you more, Robert.

In an age of AI, we need to think very hard about what those practical skills are.

But I think this has been the missing link.

It's a fair point.

And I think, look, there's an upheaval going on all over the world because of the onset of AI.

All I would say is that, you know, let's also be glass half full.

The UK produces more AI-trained graduates than anywhere else in Europe.

London is one of the two global AI hubs alongside San Francisco, according to Elon Musk.

And so I think we do have actually on the tech side, we've got a lot of stuff going for us in this country.

Look, we are going to need to spend more on the NHS as the population ages, and we have to be realistic about that.

But what I'm saying in the book is, if I think about those very chaotic first few hours when I was Chancellor, when it comes to economic growth, what is the one thing that I wish someone had told me right at the very start?