On the Scene: Goldsmith Holding His Own

‘SO YOU mean we don’t have to intensify our agriculture as the Western experts tell us?” The girl was stocky, with the red cheeks of a farmer’s daughter. We were in a lecture room of Warsaw University, and she was addressing a tall, immaculately dressed foreigner, the author of a book advertised on a poster hanging on the lectern from which he spoke.

“No, you don’t,” he thundered back. “They are getting it all wrong. There is no shortage of labor in the cities, as during the Industrial Revolution. If keeping people in agricultural communities instead of having them flock into slums means slightly higher food prices, that is the best investment Poland can make!” The girl was clearly moved. It looked as if it was the first time she was hearing that agriculture was anything but a synonym for backwardness.

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Radek Sikorski

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British Conservative Party

Tony Blair

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‘SO YOU mean we don’t have to intensify our agriculture as the Western experts tell us?” The girl was stocky, with the red cheeks of a farmer’s daughter. We were in a lecture room of Warsaw University, and she was addressing a tall, immaculately dressed foreigner, the author of a book advertised on a poster hanging on the lectern from which he spoke.

“No, you don’t,” he thundered back. “They are getting it all wrong. There is no shortage of labor in the cities, as during the Industrial Revolution. If keeping people in agricultural communities instead of having them flock into slums means slightly higher food prices, that is the best investment Poland can make!” The girl was clearly moved. It looked as if it was the first time she was hearing that agriculture was anything but a synonym for backwardness.