It would be unforgivable to use the role I have, such as it is, to inflict my incoherent, half-baked view of the world on people. That would be illegitimate and unacceptable and I should be fired.

It seems to me that the way to remove people's cynicism is, when asked a straight question, to give a straight answer.

I've spent my whole life being told I have a face like a horse. You are just what you are, aren't you?

Has there ever been a visitor to Ludlow who hasn't wished they lived there?

The idea of a tax on the ownership of a television belongs in the 1950s. Why not tax people for owning a washing machine to fund the manufacture of Persil?

I have not a clue why they sent it to me. As far as I know I have not got a reputation as a receiver of stolen goods.

It's not just politicians. Any spokesman for a vested interest is well schooled in how to say what it is they wish to say, which may bear no relation at all to what you've asked them.