I do not seek unpopularity as a badge of honour, but sometimes it is the price of leadership and the cost of conviction.

As for those that carried out these attacks there are no adequate words of condemnation. Their barbarism will stand as their shame for all eternity.

I'm afraid that's in the nature of modern politics - it's as much conducted by abuse as argument.

The kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order this world around us.

I think I made the wrong career choice

If you're interested in politics and you're not following it, then it's a little bizarre.

How do we deal with not just the acts of violence, but the extremist ideology that lies behind them? Because though the numbers of fanatics that go and join and kill for a group like ISIS are measured in tens of thousands, those that support the wider ideology, I'm afraid, you measure in tens of millions or more.