 And whenever you come to a city and the world and you meet bright people, most of them come from the London School of Economics. They have studied there, they have learned there. The head of the Deutsche Bank in Istanbul, of course, she has studied at the London School of Economics. Well, I have not studied at the London School of Economics, which is a pity, therefore I'm not a banker. But I have the great honour to ask Howard Davis, the head of this wonderful university, to give a speech now. Well, thank you, Wolfgang. By the way, it's never too late to start. We do have some mature students in the school, and I'm sure you might qualify. Talk to me afterwards about your CV. Well, good morning, Mr Chairman, Ambassador, professors, ladies and gentlemen. It's my role to welcome you here on behalf of the LSE to the ninth, as Joachim said, and latest urban age conference. Cats have only nine lives, but we hope that the urban age will have more since we have recently renewed our collaboration with Deutsche Bank and will be going to other places after this, including Chicago next year. There are some new faces here, of course, but some old hands or addicts, as Joachim and rather disobligingly called them, perhaps. But some of them, of course, know a lot more about the urban age than I do, but let me just say a word or two about the collaboration we have with Deutsche Bank and then a word or two about what we aim to achieve here in Istanbul. I thought it was a great occasion last night, by the way, and very much congratulations to Deutsche Bank on the initiative of these awards for local NGOs, private credentials, which you might call them, which we introduced only, this is only the third time we've done that. I really do think that adds a lot to this conference and connects it with real life on the ground in the cities we visit. At the event last night, Joachim and said that the LSE brought the brains and Deutsche Bank the money, which is very flatter. It's completely accurate, of course, but there were, at times, in 2008, when, frankly, we wondered whether you would still have the money given what was happening in financial markets. But the fact that Deutsche Bank do still have the money after those very difficult times for any financial institution shows that they must also have some brains as well. Indeed, they have one particular brain, which is their Chief Risk Officer Hugo Banziger, who managed them through this crisis, who is, of course, an LSE alumnus. Now, on Monday of this week in London, Peter Mandelson, who some of you will know for his role in European Commission, but who now, among other things, is responsible for universities in the United Kingdom, published a paper in which he emphasised the crucial importance of universities linking up with businesses. And I think that this collaboration with Deutsche Bank is a model of what can be done when there is a consonance of objectives and a commonality of interest. And the urban age is, in fact, just one of the collaborations with Deutsche Bank we have. Another one, in fact, is on risk management, where the bank funded a chair in risk management and recruits a lot of people from that programme. Now, the purpose of the urban age venture will become clear over the next two days. It's based on a belief that many of the problems which global cities face are similar, and that the people who are addressing those problems will benefit from bouncing ideas off each other in a structured environment. There are many global conferences between countries or between banks, but actually relatively fewer, which bring together city bosses, city mayors and others responsible for managing services in cities. And there are even fewer that do so with the academic community and those who have researched these issues across the world, also part of the debate. And that, we hope, is the unique selling proposition of this venture. Istanbul is the latest in the series. You'll see around the magnificent room, I'm not sure if you can call it a room, but a magnificent space we're in, the other cities that we have been to. And as Joachim referred to, this is the ninth. For the Americans, this will be satisfying because nine players make up a baseball team. For the Europeans, at least two more are necessary to make a proper sports team. But this is, I think, a terrific place for this latest conference. I've been to Istanbul several times myself, I couldn't say I knew it intimately, but when I was 50, my wife asked me where I would like to go and she would take me somewhere for my birthday weekend. Sorry, I see some shocked faces who are astonished that I shouldn't be as old as 50, but I am. And my choice was, in fact, Istanbul, and we came here with our two sons and had a terrific weekend. And it was improved by the fact that a very old university friend of mine, called Philip Mansel, had just written a kind of biography of the old city called Constantinople, which is a very good book if you haven't read it. And in it, he refers to all the different names by which Istanbul has been known. He lists Constantinople, Istanbul, Islambol, Istanbul, Istanbul, Kushta, Constantinopolis, Sarigrad, Rumia Alcubra, New Rome, New Jerusalem, the City of Saints, the House of the Caliphate, the Gate of Happiness, the World Police, or just the city. So, perhaps we should have started our sessions in the city, but it's certainly appropriate that we are here. Mansel's portrait of Constantinople is not an exclusively romantic picture. He talks of the huge wealth generated here, not all of it through entirely straightforward means. And indeed, quotes an old Turkish proverb, he who holds the honeypot is bound to lick his fingers. Perhaps we might reflect on that over the next couple of days. He ends on a rather downbeat note, unless there is a relocation of industry, he says, to the provinces, or an entrance tax, the city cannot survive. Well, it continues to survive and indeed continues to prosper. It's a place in which the contradictions of modern life are confronted and addressed. Turkey, I think, does play a crucial role at present at the intersection of civilizations. It's a country which particularly interests the LSE, and to mark that interest, just a couple of years ago, we established a chair of the Turkish Contemporary Studies, which is held by Sefke Pamuk, who is here and will be co-chair in the first session with us. So we have decided to make Turkey a particular focus of interest in the school, because many of the issues that are underlying a lot of the tensions in the modern world come together, I think, in Turkey, the role of Islam, the relationship between Islam and other religions, the relationship between the Middle East and Europe, all of them can be looked at through the prism of Turkey and indeed Istanbul is at the centre of that debate. So I think there is an added dimension over and above the city management issues which the urban age addresses, which comes to us by being here in this great city. So thanks to Deutsche Bank for their continued support and thanks, of course, to those in Istanbul, in the city government and elsewhere who have come together to work with us on this project and I hope that you all have a fascinating couple of days. Thank you.