When a Cabinet Minister who is sacked for telling lies is re-appointed, in the face of every constitutional convention, only for the same man to be sacked again from the same Cabinet for the same offence by the same Prime Minister – no wonder the public are cynical about politics.

It's necessary for Israelis and Palestinians to make the compromises that are required to get the direct talks back on track.

I have found that I get a better reaction from people once I am less bothered about their reaction.

We hope that the long darkness through which the Burmese people have lived may now be coming to an end.

Governments that use violence to stop democratic development will not earn themselves respite forever. They will pay an increasingly high price for actions which they can no longer hide from the world with ease, and will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

Gordon Brown promised to abolish boom and bust. He has kept half his promise.

It makes life very simple actually. You could be giving a TV interview in howling gale and it no longer matters.