I do not believe any of the statistical claims that are made about public opinion. I don't see why anybody does.

One can become quite used to the specter of the eternal Footman, like some lethal old bore lurking in the hallway at the end of the evening, hoping for the chance to have a word. And I don't so much object to his holding my coat in that marked manner, as if mutely reminding me that it's time to be on my way. No, it's the snickering that gets me down.

Religion is compulsory in English schools, you know.

Knowing that we are primates, I think, is a fascinating discovery, and a very interesting and rather cheering one.

Margaret Thatcher has shown that there is power and dignity to be won by defying the status quo and the majority rather than by adapting to them. If the British left, which she froze into immobility like Medusa, could bring itself to learn from this, then we might not have to look upon her like again.

I think that there is no supernatural dimension. The natural world is quite wonderful enough. The more we know about it, the much more wonderful it is than any supernatural proposition.

In our time, the symbol of state intrusion into the private life is the mandatory urine test.