The supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils.

'Helping industry' is the elephant pit of socialism, a deep hole with sharp spikes at the bottom, covered over with twigs and fresh grass.

When we look at the astonishing material achievements of the West. we see these things as the result, not of compulsion or government action or the superior wisdom of a few, but of that system of competition and free enterprise, rewarding success and penalising failure, which enables every individual to participate by his private decisions in shaping the future of his society.

A little nonsense now and then is not a bad thing - where would we politicians be if we were not allowed to talk it sometimes.

Paisley has been and remains a greater threat to the Union than the Foreign Office and the Provisional IRA rolled into one.

In the end, the Labour party could cease to represent labour. Stranger historic ironies have happened than that.

If in the words which the Secretary of State has just used, the use of a nuclear weapon is to be avoided 'at all costs'. what is the point of having one?