Cinema explains American society. It's like a Western, with good guys and bad guys, where the weak don't have a place.

The problem of how we finance the welfare state should not obscure a separate issue: if each person thinks he has an inalienable right to welfare, no matter what happens to the world, that's not equity, it's just creating a society where you can't ask anything of people.

Even in Britain, the trade unions tell me that employment contracts have less protection than in the past.

This desire for equity must not lead to an excess of welfare, where nobody is responsible for anything.

I would not be opposed to devising a new system of pensions, in which one part was based on collective provision, but which also gave incentives for people to take out an additional, personal plan.

My presidential victory, if it had happened, would have been artificial in relation to the Socialist party. It may be that on my deathbed, I will come to regret my decision, but for the moment, I live at peace with it.

The unions may continue to decline, but if they do, it'll be their fault.