It is true that legality is not morality, and sticking to the law is necessary for good citizenship, but it is not sufficient.

There are many things you shouldn't measure. Don't, for example, try to measure how much you love your wife!

It's not leftovers that are wasteful, but those who either don't know what to do with them or can't be bothered.

If there is an art of living, it is not something that can be taught timelessly. We have lessons to learn from Aristotle et al, for sure, but not if we simply uproot them from their epoch and stamp them into 21st-century soil.

Dover's cliffs call to mind the Roman invasion; the Battle of Britain; our proximity to, yet difference from, mainland Europe; and international trade and exploration, both fair and exploitative.

People seem very arrogant when they say 'I'm right and you're wrong', but in practice we all believe we're right. We have a staggering arrogance in our own belief. That can be tempered by not being 100% certain; by being provisional. No matter what the debate is, very few people have the modesty to suspend judgement on a whole range of things; most intelligent people have an opinion and are expected to have an opinion by other people - but it always requires making a personal judgement that goes way-beyond your expertise. We do it all the time.

If we now find ourselves looking down on the cheap and convenient, it is only because we now have better things which are affordable.