George Robertson

What did you find most encouraging?
What I have found most encouraging in the last 10 years has been the rise of opposition in Iran. In a brutal, oppressive and dangerous dictatorship the people have at last started to rebel. Taking the colour green as their emblem, mirroring the colour revolutions in Eastern Europe, they have taken to the streets, questioned the theocracy, organised civil disobedience and broken the wall of conformity. Given that the price of protest has been death, state-organised violence, prison with torture, and the loss of livelihoods, their courage and determination has been inspirational. The regime is now as broken as the Communist world was 20 years ago and although it will take some time to unravel, there is no doubt that people power spells the end to a rotten, bloodstained system which many people thought would last for decades.

What did you find most discouraging?
Discouraging has been the relentless tide of death and injury on the roads of the world. Nearly a million and a half people killed each year in car crashes with 50 million injured or disabled, this is an under-noticed and under-appreciated health epidemic. Road crashes are the biggest world-wide killer of young people between 15 and 19 and the second among 5-14 year olds. By 2030, in only two decades' time, the casualty toll will be twice the present total – and it will be the poorest in the world who will be most affected. I chair a commisssion on global road safety and we hope that the first ever UN conference of road safety ministers held last month in Moscow will kick-start a decade of action to halt this relentless loss of life and limb.

Which public figure did you most admire?
This has been a long decade with lots of people to admire. I first thought of my friend the late president of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovsky, who led his nation from the brink of bloody civil war in 2001 to the brink of EU and NATO membership. But my choice is Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister of Zimbabwe. Under the cosh of Mugabe's thuggish regime this man has stood firm and his persistence and dogged belief in democracy have brought world-wide admiration. Even the loss of his beloved wife and political partner in a deadly road crash, has not blunted his determination and bravery. Now in very uneasy partnership with Robert Mugabe, who cheated him in the presidential elections, he still leads from the front and puts the welfare of his people before the oppositionist grandstanding some advocate. When eventually he is president and the Mugabe chapter is closed, his lonely, painful courage will be fully vindicated and his wonderful land and its people will be free at last.

Which public figure did you least admire?
To say I least admire Osama Bin Laden is an understatement. The mastermind and orchestrator behind the slaughters on 9/11, in Madrid, Nairobi, Bali, Casablanca, Istanbul and London has spawned a campaign of nihilistic violence. Believing that death and bloodshed are justified, he has initiated a network of fanatics delivering hideous death and injury irrespective of race or religious belief. He has perverted a benign religion and motivated a new brand of youthful martyrs intent on delivering their own extreme concept of intolerance and bigotry. He has dominated the first decade of the 21st century and his evil influence is still there and should not be underestimated.