Ten Downing Street is a house, not an office. That is its most important characteristic.

But Germany will always suffer, I fear, from the intensely dramatic character of the crimes of the Third Reich.

There are thus great swathes of the past where understanding is more important and reputable than judgement, because the principal actors performed in line with the ideas and values of that time, not of ours.

Silence is regarded as a sort of sin now, and it has to be filled with a lot of gossip and soundbites.

A genuinely democratic Iraq might well act as a fresh spur.

The tragedy of 9/11 galvanised the American superpower into action, leaving us in Europe divided in its wake.

It is normal for politicians in all countries to profess themselves the pupils of history, anxious to draw the right lessons from her teaching.