The closed circle of materialism is clear to us now - aspirations become wants, wants become needs, and self-gratification becomes a bottomless pit.

If you can manipulate news, a judge can manipulate the law. A smart lawyer can keep a killer out of jail, a smart accountant can keep a thief from paying taxes, a smart reporter could ruin your reputation - unfairly.

Democracy is not meant to be efficient, it is meant to be fair.

We are disgusted by the things that we desire, and we desire what disgusts us.

It is not a government's obligation to provide services, but to see that they are provided.

I somehow got this reputation of diddling and dithering. I don't remember dithering at all.

In the end, I'm convinced we will all benefit if suspicion is replaced by discussion, innuendo by dialogue; if the emphasis in our debate turns from a search for talismanic criteria and neat but simplistic answers to an honest - more intelligent - attempt at describing the role religion has in our public affairs, and the limits placed on that role.