強者一言

道理不是越辯越明的。只有強者的道理才是越辯越明。或許說不辯也明。同一番說話，由一個弱者說出來，沒人理會，由強者道出，人人稱是，這是人類不二的致理。路亦是強者行出來的，千里之行，始於足下，第一步是最難踏出，為甚麼由強者領導的國家、時代，國力躍進，開風氣之先？沒有強者推動新政，萬事不能。看看今天的香港，跟彭定康的時代，宵壤之別。

甚麼人是強者？邱吉爾是強者、張佰倫是庸才。斯太林是強者、克魯曉夫是官僚；鄧小平是強者，江澤民扮強。列根是強者、卡特軟弱。克林頓是強者、奧巴馬只是演員。強者和爛鬼土豪不同，後者非洲打把，那些以強凌弱，自肥自重的一言堂主總統、土皇帝落。

閩晉魚號事件，發展到保釣（實質是日中「保尖奪釣」），中日都顯得像個傻瓜，皆因中日的領導，都是官僚，不是強者。技術官僚用於政治是委婉語，意即毫無政治才華的政客。中國除了一如既往像個土匪蠻邦，不是大叫大跳，就是你扣我一個人，我扣翻你四個。民間甚麼不買日貨，不去日本（最好不要去吧！），不運稀土給你全是負氣動作。日本更劣，先話依法辦事，人家一話來真，馬上腳軟，十多日後首相才逼令放人，議員輿論譁然，大喊威信無存。

現任首相菅直人是怎樣的人？他讀森穆遜的傳世著作《經濟學》，讀了十多頁就讀不下去。他的太太更老實不客氣對傳媒說，很驚訝日本由這樣一個人來治理，還出書幽默丈夫一番。

查實日本不是第一次扣押釣魚島範圍的中國人。二○○四年，七個保釣人士登島，被日方拉走。當時的首相是小泉純一郎，那就不同了。小泉一聲中日關係，決定放人，朝野無人敢哼半句。為甚麼？小泉是強者。

日本在他領導下，渡過了戰後最長的經濟增長期（2002－2008）。較六十年代日本起飛時的「伊弉諾景氣」（いざなぎ景氣）更長（1965－1970）。他上任便命令銀行清理壞帳，委任竹中平藏，監督強逼銀行工作。數年光景，把日本的銀行起死回生。他又推動日本郵政（Japan Post）的私有化計畫。日本郵政是世界最大銀行。在外匯市場翻雲覆雨的「渡邊太太」的十二萬億美元資產，過半存在日本郵政。政客反對私有化，小泉解散國會，讓國民定奪。他派出「刺客」（和他相同理念的年青新人，寓意把朝中的元老刺殺）參加選舉，大獲全勝。

小泉又一意孤行到靖國神社參拜。每年終戰記念，鏡頭之前，小泉正裝禮服，一身 full morning suit，高視闊步，與神官一齊步入神社，追悼殉國英烈。此舉得罪所有亞洲國家，六年不得見中國領導。

順帶一提，日本人學西方文明禮節學足十成，早午永不穿晚禮服（evening suit，即美國人所謂的 tuxedo）。香港一眾「精英」，日光日白，穿晚禮服進去教堂，貽笑大方，盡顯殖民地土人的氣質。

小泉說退就退，不戀權力。他是貓王歌迷，臨別秋波，到美國曼非斯的「恩賜之地」，景仰一代歌王，在美國總統陪伴下，哼出兩句歌王名曲，風流而退。像普京般做完總統做總理，總理期滿便收憲讓自己再做總統，那是爛鬼所為，不是強者。

邱吉爾後，強者政治衰落，七八十年代還出現列根、戴婥爾夫人。二十一世紀，我們看到小泉純一郎在西方國家中政治最平庸的日本裡，示範強者怎樣英雄造時勢。現在我們只見官僚和演員，政治強者在平庸的時代是沒有市場的。

Stephen Hawking's The Grand Design

Stephen Hawking on The Grand Design

How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves? Over twenty years ago I wrote A Brief History of Time, to try to explain where the universe came from, and where it is going. But that book left some important questions unanswered. Why is there a universe - why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why are the laws of nature what they are? Did the universe need a designer or creator?

It was Einstein's dream to discover the grand design of the universe, a single theory that explains everything. However, physicists in Einstein's day hadn't made enough progress in understanding the forces of nature for that to be a realistic goal. And by the time I had begun writing A Brief History of Time, there were still several key advances that had not yet been made that would prevent us from fulfilling Einstein's dream. But in recent years the development of M-theory, the top-down approach to cosmology, and new observations such as those made by satellites like NASA's COBE and WMAP, have brought us closer than ever to that single theory, and to being able to answer those deepest of questions. And so Leonard Mlodinow and I set out to write a sequel to A Brief History of Time to attempt to answer the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. The result is The Grand Design, the product of our four-year effort.

In The Grand Design we explain why, according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence, or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. We question the conventional concept of reality, posing instead a 'model-dependent' theory of reality. We discuss how the laws of our particular universe are extraordinarily finely tuned so as to allow for our existence, and show why quantum theory predicts the multiverse - the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature. And we assess M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing the multiverse, and the only viable candidate for a complete 'theory for everything.' As we promise in our opening chapter, unlike the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life given in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the answer we provide in The Grand Design is not, simply '42.'

The book is available on 7 September. I can't wait to get a copy.