High Commissioner to India: Britain makes wonderful things

As CX supporters on Facebook will be aware, we are consistently impressed with Sir James Bevan KCMG, the British High Commissioner to India. If nothing else, his endless optimism for Britain, India, the Commonwealth and the World is both infectious and inspiring. He has, once again, given an excellent speech promoting British business to India and vice versa, on this occasion to promote this Sunday's Indian Grand Prix . It can be read in full here. He uses the opportunity to heap praise on some of the great British-Indian success stories including JCB changing the landscape of India and Tata, through Jaguar Landrover, changing the roads of Britain and the world.

In his closing remarks he channels "Love Actually" with a resounding and optimistic assessment of Britain's economic past and it's future. A future that relies on us reaching out to the world. Enjoy:

We in Britain are good at thinking up new things as well as making them. The UK is one of the most innovative countries in the world. Examples – the Internet, invented by a Brit; the iPad, designed by a Brit; and the Higgs Boson, the particle which explains why the physical world works, predicted by a Brit.

Other things which the British have discovered or invented include, in no particular order: football, golf, cricket, tiddlywinks, croquet, the pencil, the telephone, SMS messaging, the light bulb, television, railways, the steam engine, the jet engine, hovercraft, penicillin, gravity, radar, longitude, vertical take-off aircraft, evolution, bungee jumping and the postage stamp. And - perhaps the most important breakthrough of all for world happiness, finally achieved in 1847 by the British company JS Fry and sons – the chocolate bar. Not a bad list for a small misty island off the coast of Europe.

So, ladies and gentlemen, if you remember one thing from this evening – apart from Jenson Button – remember this: Britain makes things. And the things that we make are wonderful.