My children, to the extent that they have found religion, have found it from me, in that I insist on at least a modicum of religious education for them.

The best blended Scotch in the history of the world - which was also the favourite drink of the Iraqi Baath Party, as it still is of the Palestinian Authority and the Libyan dictatorship and large branches of the Saudi Arabian royal family - is Johnnie Walker Black. Breakfast of champions, accept no substitute.

The suicide-bombing community is not absolutely 100 percent religious, but it is pretty nearly 100 percent religious.

I became a journalist because I didn't want to have to rely on the press for information... I only read it to make sure of whatever everyone else thinks is going on, because it's useful to know what people think is the news.

I try to deny myself any illusions or delusions, and I think that this perhaps entitles me to try and deny the same to others, at least as long as they refuse to keep their fantasies to themselves.

For most of my life I let women do the driving and was happy to let them.

A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realisation that you can't make old friends.