Robert Paston

You have been running essentially a study of this for donkey's years.

What would you say the data shows about the quality of British management?

And so that's also connected to this issue of, particularly with talent, making sure the visa system doesn't discourage them from coming.

There's also stuff to do with

whether we are the kind of place which is resentful of people who earn a lot of money.

And I think, you know, it's such a difficult balance there.

You know, tackling inequality, which is plainly cancerous when it comes to the cohesion of us.

You know, inequality is undoubtedly...

to the cohesion of a society and trust across society.

But on the other hand, it's also the case that whether we like it or not, human nature is that talented people will go, you know, if you can earn three times as much somewhere, you know, one place than another place, you're probably going to go to the place where you can earn three times as much if you're talented.

It's tricky, isn't it?

Do you like living among the billionaires?

What's it like?

There will be some people listening to this who will say, we want more billionaires like that in Britain.

Then there'll be others listening who are saying, under, over, well, sort of, you know, over my dead body.

This is one of those slightly controversial issues.

I don't think this is the moment to explore it further, but it's a fascinating place to end.

And indeed, it's a fascinating hook to get you back sometime to talk some more about all of these issues.

So, Nick, thank you so much for joining me today.

I thought that was an absolutely gripping conversation, both about the history of Brexit and where we may be going in terms of our relationship with the European Union in the future.