David Lammy Quotes

It is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by individual nation-states, however powerful. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the imperatives of global environmental cooperation.

The main concept is that of an international solidarity expressed in practice through worldwide division of labor: free trade is the principal point in the program of internationalism.

I mean that the time where we need International agreement more than ever on the environment and the rest, poverty we are breaking up our International Institutions and the rule of law and Tony Blair is part of it.

Global challenges require collective responses.

In a situation where many national leaders do the same thing and look out for national interests, and with an issue like global warming, you're likely to get no solution, so I think you have to have some kind of ethical trump on some of those issues.

All the major problems of the world today are global in essence, and they cannot be solved unless through some kind of global cooperation. It's not just climate change, which is, like, the most obvious example people give. I think more in terms of technological disruption.

I have concluded that the U.N. can do a few things well.

The world can't have a global solution to climate change with U.S. action alone; and the world can't have a global solution without U.S. action.

Individual scientists cannot do much on their own. Heads of nations, corporates, and economic giants should recognise the criticality of it.

On big issues like war in Iraq, but in many other issues they simply must be multilateral. There's no other way around. You have the instances like the global warming convention, the Kyoto protocol, when the U.S. went its own way.

It is possible that, post-Kyoto, the developed countries will recognise the requirements of the developing world.

The Conservatives are a confusing lot. They first denied climate change was a serious issue and then suggested strengthening the nuclear industry as a solution to it. They oppose the European Union, but support joining North American Free Trade Agreement, despite its obvious failure.

A global deal will only be possible if Britain plays its part, leading the way with other developed countries.

I really do hope that the Millennium Summit gives new impetus to the work of the United Nations.

Peace and security of our planet must be based on the collective action of all nations, not a few, however powerful they may be.

The nation-state has become too small for the big problems of life and too big for the small problems.

Climate change is a global problem. Its impacts do not respect national borders. No nation can deal with it alone. We must all work together, building joint capability to deal with these emerging threats. .

The question is therefore not whether there will be globalization but how much and what kind, carried out through what means and according to what rules.

We have brought down emissions in this country through our legal system and through technological innovation. We can do this on our own. We don't have to have the permission of countries all over the world to do that.

The U.N. brings everybody together. And without it, we can't deal with Ebola or terrorism or climate change. But it's 70 years old. It's tired. It's acquired a lot of bad habits. And often it feels like only new bad habits get added and old bad habits don't get taken away.

I have to say that if our global alliances are going to be alliances with Hezbollah and Hamas and Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and Vladimir Putin's Russia, there is absolutely no chance of building a world-wide alliance that can deal with poverty and inequality and climate change and financial instability, and we've got to face up to that fact.

The Paris climate agreement may be a harbinger of the spirit and mindset needed to sustain genuine global cooperation.

And being in the EU has given Britain a stronger voice in the world. Britain leads in Europe, from trade to climate change, from good governance to debt relief for the poorest nations, and in turn Europe helps to lead the world.

Twenty-seven member states cannot even organise a takeaway curry, let alone what they are going to do on free trade deals with the rest of the world.

National diplomacy strategies are usually focused on promoting one's interests against others' interests. By emphasizing the global 'we' rather than the national 'I' in the climate change debate, COP 21 proved to be a case in point for a change of lenses.