We, while noting many things amiss about Victorian society, more often sense them judging us.

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

When Christians start thinking about Jesus, things start breaking down, they lose their faith. It's perfectly possible to go to church every Sunday and not ask any questions, just because you like it as a way of life. They fear that if they ask questions they'll lose their Christ, the very linchpin of their religion.

Of all liars the most arrogant are biographers: those who would have us believe, having surveyed a few boxes full of letters, diaries, bank statements and photographs, that they can play at the recording angel and tell the whole truth about another human life.

I very much dislike the intolerance and moralism of many Christians, and feel more sympathy with Honest Doubters than with them.

IQ in general has improved since tests first began. Psychologists think that this is because modern life becomes ever more complicated.

Watching a whole cluster of friends, and my own mother, die over quite a short space of time convinced me that purely materialist 'explanations' for our mysterious human existence simply won't do - on an intellectual level.