I have noticed, you see, that there are certain "don'ts". Reading out a shopping list, for example, and then saying "Oh, sorry, wrong piece of paper", hasn't really worked for me since my Best Man turn in 1974, and even that speech was slightly marred by the reaction of the bride's mother to the one about the zebra and the telegraph pole. My lesson was learnt; it's still not appreciated everywhere, though: I've lost count of the times subsequently that I've heard a speaker, for some unknown reason, throw in an entirely unrelated joke in dubious taste; and that's just Ann Winterton Is this, I wonder, a peculiarly British thing? Perhaps M. Chirac could enlighten us.Which leads me to my next "don't": don't forget that whatever you say may be taken down and used against you. Let it say that "we who were strong in love", as Wordsworth put it, were the ones who really did make poverty history..
Ladies and gentlemen, unaccustomed though I am to public speaking, it gives me great pleasure - and always has done! Even so, given the present furore surrounding the after-dinner efforts of Ms Louise Casey, I do think it might be time for a few cautionary words about this sort of thing. But it will depend on the will of governments, and on the commitment of groups and individuals such as you. So between now and September, please keep making your voices heard loud and clear enough to lift the sky. And keep raising your voices after that, to hold governments to their promises, and to help translate those promises into action.Let history not say about our age that we were those who were rich in means but poor in will. To act on that understanding, we also need to reinvigorate the United Nations itself.The issues on the table are of vital importance to every human being on the planet. If the summit takes decisions that help to strengthen our collective security; if we make real progress in our fight against poverty, disease and illiteracy; if the world provides the means to reach all the Millennium Development Goals; if governments recognise the centrality of human rights, and reform the United Nations to ensure it is up to the job it has to do - then all the world's people will benefit.We have a once-in-a-generation chance to bring about historic, fundamental change.
In our interconnected world, the human family will not enjoy development without security, it will not enjoy security without development, and it will not enjoy either without respect for human rights. They must agree on a plan to reach the Goals. The agenda for our New York summit in September is even larger than that. It is based on the understanding that development, security and human rights are not only ends in themselves - they reinforce each other, and depend on each other. The worst thing the party and its leader could do now is avoid debate and pretend that it is business as usual.. This is a make-or-break moment for the Millennium Development Goals - and for the world's poor. You know that how we fare for the next 10 years hinges on decisions that must be taken within the next days and months. In many ways, the task this year will be even tougher than it was five years ago, when the Millennium Development Goals were adopted.