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.

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

Difference is of the essence of humanity.

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.

We're much closer together in the world today than we ever were in the psot. Given that it is a much smaller world, we are in a stronger position to shape that world. As we enter the new century, and anew millennium, let us create a world in which there is no longer any war or any conflict.

My father was unemployed and I was the eldest of seven children. We were very poor. And when you ask how did we support ourselves, the only funding that we had was unemployment payments.

My father was a civil servant, fairly sort of middle ranking, low to middle ranking. He worked almost entirely in what was then called Administrative Labour, dealing with employment and unemployment issues