So long as the UK continues to maintain its own identity, it is my belief that the US and the UK should maintain close relations.

Finally, there's a sense in which I look at this Westminster village and London intelligentsia as an outsider.

Because when you watch US television, all the presenters and reporters, they're all out of central casting.

My forebears refused to cut the sugar cane for plantation owners, and I am recognisably a product of that background.

I was a postman one Christmas and I developed a morbid fear of dogs.

When fast food is not a treat but a dietary staple, the children surf the internet all day in dark corners of the room and are bombarded with latest gadgets. Things replace parental standards.

I don't think you can have pain and soul-searching doing the right thing for your child.