2026-09-06
34 分钟Hello and welcome to Meet the Writers.
I'm Georgina Godwin.
My guest today has spent decades moving between economics, politics and power, from advising governments
and corporations to sitting at the heart of Westminster as business secretary during the coalition years.
In his latest book, Eclipsing the West, he argues that the world is entering a new era,
shaped less by the old Atlantic order and more by two vast forces rising in parallel,
China and India, not just as emerging economies, but as what he calls new super states.
Vince Cable, welcome to Meet the Writers.
Now, last time we were together, we were sharing a taxi hurtling
along a dark road in India on the way to some fabulous party.
Yes, that's right.
The Jaipur Book Festival, which I discovered I'd never been before, is one of the really great events in the world.
It's an extraordinary collection of brilliant writers, enormous audiences, and extremely well organised.
I mean, the caricature of India is somewhat chaotic.
The book festival operates with five events going on in parallel,
meticulously timed, perfect acoustics, extraordinary phenomenon,
but really enlightening and it gave me an opportunity to promote my book on China and India, which I'm grateful.
How far back does your fascination with India go?
Because you first went there as a student in the 1960s.
Yes, I think my background goes back 60 years, something of that order.