David Miliband’s Ditchley Lecture: After the “decade of war”

The full text of the former foreign secretary's final speech before he leaves for New York to become head of the International Rescue Committee.

By David Miliband

I want to start a long way from here, in the Democratic Republic of Congo – one of the most war-torn places on earth. I heard about a group of film makers who have just returned after spending the last 18 months there. They said the following: “If you look at the facts and you don’t get desperate, you aren’t looking at the facts. If you look at the people and don’t get hopeful you aren’t looking at the people.”