History provides no precise guidelines.

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

History provides no precise guidelines.

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

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.

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