I may find Saddam Hussein's regime abhorrent - any normal person would - but the survival of it is in his hands.

One of the most important things in politics is you've got to keep your mind infinitely curious and alive to what is happening differently.

Look, I am very competitive.

At the heart of my politics has always been the value of community, the belief that we are not merely individuals struggling in isolation from each other, but members of a community who depend on each other, who benefit from each other's help, who owe obligations to each other. From that everything stems: solidarity, social justice, equality, freedom.

Repressive states are developing weapons that could cause destruction on a massive scale.

A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.

The threat today is not that of the 1930s. It's not big powers going to war with each other. The ravages which fundamentalist political ideology inflicted on the 20th century are memories. The Cold war is over. Europe is at peace, if not always diplomatically.