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

[I]f you think that American imperialism and its globalised, capitalist form is the most dangerous thing in the world, that means you don't think the Islamic Republic of Iran or North Korea or the Taliban is as bad.

I must have been one of the least surprised people on earth on September 11. I felt very braced for that. I knew something like that was going to come.

Bertrand Russell used to employ the method of "evidence against interest"; in other words of deciding that a critique of capital punishment, say, carried more weight if it came from a prison governor. (My friend John O'Sullivan puts it like this: If the pope says he believes in God, he's only doing his job; if he says he doesn't believe in God, he may be on to something.)

To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation - is that good for the world?

The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy - the one that's absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes.

Three words for those who want to put the Christ back in Christmas: Jingle Bell Rock.