Since Einstein developed his theory of relativity, and Rutherford and Bohr revolutionised physics, our picture of the world has radically changed.

I'm like Jane Austen - I work on the corner of the dining table.

Fear of death has never played a large part in my consciousness - perhaps unimaginative of me.

My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known - not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in the light of the Resurrection story, or in the quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die.

I should prefer to have a politician who regularly went to a massage parlour than one who promised a laptop computer for every teacher.

In the past, I used to counter any such notions by asking myself: 'Would you really want President Hattersley?' I now find that possibility rather cheers me up. With his chubby, Dickensian features and his knowledge of T.H. Green and other harmless leftish political classics, Hattersley might not be such a bad thing after all.

I might be deceiving myself but I do not think that I do have an inordinate fear of death.