You do have to do business with and to try to influence people you don't agree with, or find disagreeable, so it's important to stress that balance.

Let's not be afraid to speak the common sense truth: you can't have high standards without good discipline.

A generation of children has been betrayed.

The low carbon economy is at the leading edge of a structural shift now taking place globally...

You can see over time whether people are prepared to differ or not.

The appalling crackdown that we witnessed in Hama and other Syrian cities on 30 and 31 July only erode the regime's legitimacy and increase resentment. In the absence of an end to the senseless violence and a genuine process of political reform, we will continue to pursue further EU sanctions.

One day I will go back to my books and piano, but not yet.