I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the most important thing you can be in politics.

Choice depends on the freedom to choose and if you are shackled with debt you don't have the freedom to choose.

I think Mrs Thatcher did more damage to democracy, equality, internationalism, civil liberties, freedom in this country than any other Prime Minister this century. When the euphoria surrounding her departure subsides you will find that in a year or two's time there will not be a Tory who admits ever supporting her. People in the street will say, thank God she's gone

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

In the end, the tragedy of Harold Wilson was that you couldn't believe a word he said

If you file your waste-paper basket for fifty years, you have a public library.

I really think in the Commonwealth of Europe you should have Russia. I listed a hundred countries that would be in it and it would then be a really European United Nations.