We're taking part in a divine comedy and we should realise that the play is always a comedy, in that we're all ultimately ridiculous.

There was no doubt that in the early and mid-eighties that many of us in broadsheet newspapers felt that we still had a responsibility to try to protect the Royal Family or if you like protect the Monarchy from the assaults of the media.

A Tory government with a decent mandate seems the only hope of tackling the fiscal catastrophe responsibly.

The only redemptive feature of war is the brotherhood which it forges.

You cannot write down how people are good; you just know it, and cannot get away from it.

When I am fishing, I think quite a lot about the fish, but I also think about the book I'm writing.

I've always found women more loyal, more disciplined, less neurotic, more hardworking. I just think they're perfect colleagues. Whereas, God knows, I've dealt with plenty of neurotic men.