The clearest evidence that we are living beyond environmental means is the threat of dangerous climate change. The scale of this threat, to human life and to the natural resources and assets on which it depends, for everything from oxygen and clean water to healthy soils and flood defence, means that this simply must be our top priority

The science is getting worse faster than the politics is getting better.

Dangerous climate change... It's important not to be alarmist but it is very important to be alarmed

My advice is very simple: if you can win a small battle, it gives you confidence in the political process to take on bigger battles, and so it is very much a bottom-up grass-roots way of doing politics.

I've committed myself to serve my constituents in South Shields and I have committed myself to British politics.

I abhor anything that constitutes torture. Water-boarding, its perfectly clear to me it is torture. I never supported extraordinary rendition to torture, always said that Guantanamo should be closed. There is no clash of ideals and pragmatism there.

What's now urgently needed [to stop environmental disaster] is the international political commitment to take action to avoid dangerous climate change.