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

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

History provides no precise guidelines.

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

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

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

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