Europe is a “slacker with low expectations” according to Peter Thiel.

He's being deliberately annoying in order to push his new book of course; the idea that anyone can characterise an entire continent with such a sweeping generalisation is bizarre.

Nonetheless, his more positive position on London is based around the same thinking I commented on from Marc Andreesen and others. Essentially to not look to The Valley as a place to emulate but to look to the strengths of the ecosystem you're in and build on that.

One thing I do know about the Oxford environment... "slacker" is the not word I'd choose to describe the people here.