I had some adventures at the White House, but hardly enough to fill a full memoir.

As for the financial world - I've been working in the Forbes building for eight years. You soak up a little bit of ambient stuff about all this - I know what a gold straddle is, what the Lombard rate is.

I spent, whether consciously or unconsciously, most of my career trying to be something other than William F. Buckley's son.

I once spoke to 9,000 people, but they managed to fit them all into a structure that resembled a Zeppelin hangar, so it was a contained space in which whatever laughter I generated could ricochet and hang around for a bit, encouraging others to join in.

What we can do in Singapore may not be doable elsewhere. Some things you know you need: you want efficient government, you want clean government, you want to do away with corruption, you must educate your people. You want to get housing and so on. All these are not such secrets, not so special to Singapore.

Democracy, despite its limitations, is in the end the only way to ensure that policies do not simply benefit the privileged few.

These days, government employees are better off in almost every area: pay, benefits, time off, and security, on top of working fewer hours. They can thrive even in a down economy.

In a democracy, you need to have a strong judicial system. You need freedom of speech, you need art, and you need a free press.