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

Some people find it difficult to argue with a woman Prime Minister and shrivel up.

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

We should be wary of politicians who profess to follow history while only noticing those signposts of history that point in the direction which they themselves already favour.

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

Men like Hitler and Stalin and their immediate lieutenants cannot plead in defence of their actions that these were justified by the accepted values of that time.

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