I opposed the Suez war, I opposed the Falklands war. I opposed the Libyan bombing and I opposed the Gulf war and I never believed that any of those principled arguments lost a single vote - indeed, I think they gained support though that was not why you did it. What has been lacking in Labour politics over a long period is a principled stand

Encouragement is the most important thing in the world for young people, rather than league tables, which demoralise everyone.

I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them.

Well, it all began with Democracy. Before we had the vote all the power was in the hands of rich people. If you had money you could get health care, education, look after yourself when you were old, and what democracy did was to give the poor the vote and it moved power from the marketplace to the polling station, from the wallet...to the ballot.

Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself.

The one thing that is absolutely essential is that there shouldn't be any governmental control [of the media] directly or indirectly.

The exhaustion of old age is something people who are younger don't fully appreciate.