Every child growing up will look to their parents, my mother and my father. My grandmother lived with us. I picked up quite a bit of family lore and history from her, which was interesting.

Like everybody at that age, I read an awful lot of pulp fiction. But at the same time, I also read quite a bit of history and read that as much for pleasure as part of a curriculum.

The basis of peace and stability, in any society, has to be the fullest respect for the human rights of all its people.

The violence had broken out in both sides, but our philosophy as a party was very, very clear.

In my opinion, what changed the situation eventually - and, of course, it took a lot of time to change it, things like that don't change in a week or a fortnight - was the new educational system.

Before the arrival of the Credit Union, people who were from the poor background or a working class background couldn't borrow from banks.

I went to the local schools, the local state primary school, and then to the local grammar school. A secondary school, which technically was an independent school, it was not part of the state educational system.