British PM at TED: "First generation to change the world for the better"

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is an unlucky man. Within the first few days of his premiership, there were nationwide floods, a foot-and-mouth outbreak and attempted terror attacks in London that were only discovered through sheer luck.

The extent of this man's bad luck was emphasized by popular Irish comedian, Dara O'Briain yesterday which would extend to him finding a chain in the Lake District on his recent holiday, wondering what it is, pulling on it and ending up watching as the entirety of the Lake District just drain out through a hole in the ground where the plug was. The video is here - it's hilarious but absolutely not safe for work.

But amidst all this, he spoke at TED, widely confirmed as one of the most brilliant conferences of modern time where the very cream of the crop of intelligence, knowledge and understanding come together to share their thoughts.

A friend of mine, Steve Clayton, summed up his experience of the video:

"I've always pondered that given his lacklustre performances we regularly see on TV. It shows how much our impressions are formed by the media as I thought this performance was brilliant. He spoke passionately, excitedly and with humour. For 18 minutes I was actually transfixed by our Prime Minister. He was really rather good and he seems to understand the power of the web to change the world. OK you can argue that he made lots of bold statements and action are how we should be judged but one pure delivery, it was the best I have seen from him."

This video really shows how much power this generation has with the Internet and the good that can come from using it to speak out and use technology to our advantage. I strongly recommend you take 20 minutes from your day, sit down with a cup of tea and listen to his vision for using the wired web for a global good. Besides, he ain't half funny for a middle-aged politician...