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

War on Iraq runs the risk of turning the Middle East into an inexhaustible recruiting ground for anti- western terrorism.

We must admit that history is enjoyable to a large extent because it enables us to pass judgment on the past.

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.

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.

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

Margaret Thatcher, growing up in a bombed and battered Britain, derived a distrust which has grown with the years not just of Germany but of all continental Europe.