Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television.

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

No military timetable should compel war when a successful outcome, namely a disarmed Iraq may be feasible without war, for example by allowing more time to the UN inspectors.

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

History provides no precise guidelines.

Margaret Thatcher was fearful of German unification because she believed that this would bring an immediate and formidable increase of economic strength to a Germany which was already the strongest economic partner in Europe.

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.