There is a growing crisis unfolding across Britain that too few of those in positions of power and influence have had the courage to confront directly. Mental ill health costs the United Kingdom a staggering £120 billion per annum, a figure that exceeds the combined cost of every other major cause of ill health in this country. It is a national emergency hiding in plain sight, and it demands the kind of bold, compassionate and visionary leadership that only the Government is positioned to deliver.
Around sixteen years ago, I offered the then-incoming Conservative Party something remarkable: the chance to distribute free of charge, to every school in the United Kingdom, the complete teachings of my dear friend and collaborator, the late Tony Buzan: his revolutionary work on memory power, speed reading and his world-changing invention, the Mind Map. I made this offer through Dominic Cummings, the Tory special adviser, over lunch. He assured me of his enthusiastic support, then vanished entirely, refusing to return calls and never engaging again. It was a missed opportunity of extraordinary proportions, and one that the country has paid for ever since.
Tony Buzan, who passed seven years ago, dedicated his life to a single, beautiful belief: that no one is born unintelligent, only that too many minds are never given the opportunity to flourish. From this conviction, he built a legacy that touched millions: over 140 books translated into 40 languages, the founding of the World Memory Championship, and decades of work proving that every human being carries within them a spark of genius simply waiting to be ignited.
Together, Tony and I co-founded the Brain Trust Charity in 1990, with a clear and urgent mission: to raise the general level of mental wellbeing across the United Kingdom and beyond. Today, at this historic RSM gathering, I am proud to repeat that offer — this time to a Government I believe will listen, act, and deliver.
Since meeting my now good friends Prof Dr Ahmed Ali Khan and Professor Afridi, I have encountered something I never found from the Tories: genuine attention, goodwill, and openness, supported by the vibrant and visionary British Asian community that has embraced our shared values of inclusion, equality, and opportunity.
Mental health must now take its rightful place at the very centre of our national and global agenda. The Brain Trust, working in alliance with Imperial College London’s Institute for Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, chaired by the eminent multi-award winner Professor Michael Crawford, the Tony Buzan Global Academy, the World Memory Championships and the Psychiatric Association of Pakistan, stands ready to partner together to bring Tony Buzan’s vision of global mental literacy to every school, every community and every corner of Britain. First Britain, then the world.
This is not merely a charitable ambition. It is an aspiration, rooted in the belief that every child deserves the tools to unlock their potential, that every community deserves access to mental wellbeing, and that a truly fair and equal Britain must be a mentally healthy Britain, a Britain which speaks authentically to people’s hopes and aspirations. That same energy, that same belief in the power of people, must now be channelled into the greatest untapped resource this country possesses: the human mind.
Let us also not overlook the dangers inherent in one giant misconception, a misconception which has bedevilled relations between the variegated cultures which make up our world, and of which the UK can become a glittering microcosm. I say it now, and I say it openly and clearly: race does not exist. We are all one people. Different cultures, yes. Different races? Emphatically no.
So-called race is merely the human organism's reaction to varying existential conditions of weather, climate, and topographical parameters. Race does not exist. Consider the humble pea. We, as humans, share fifty per cent of our DNA with this little green vegetable, so how infinitesimally closer are we, as humans, to each other? Don’t be fooled. Racism is for idiots, while appeals to racist instincts are simply clarion calls to the gullible.
I now call upon the Government to open its doors to the Brain Trust, to embrace Tony Buzan’s enduring legacy, and to make mental literacy a national priority. The Conservatives wasted their chance. We will not waste ours.
Fiat lux, let there be light.
