A politician is required to listen to humbug, talk humbug, condone humbug. The most we can hope for is that we don't actually believe it.

we can forgive anything as long as it isn't done to us.

A picnic may well be a metaphor for life. The essentials for happiness are the right company, moderate if sanguine expectations and a reasonable standard of physical sustenance and comfort, the whole being bedeviled by the belief that there is always something better to be had if only one presses on.

I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.

Daniel supposed he had a secret life. Most people did; it was hardly possible to live without one.

Any visitor to an historic country town or city quickly becomes aware in his or her peregrinations that the most attractive houses in the centre are invariably the offices of lawyers.

Most of my life I have needed more time to be on my own.