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When power is exercised exclusively at the centre, the result is rigidity of rules and alienation of the people subject to those rules.
Charles Kennedy
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We all accept the world would be safer without Saddam's baleful dictatorship.
Charles Kennedy
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We need less theoretical debate and more practical application and acknowledgment of what Europe can and does do so that it is brought home to people in a relevant way.
Charles Kennedy
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Just as we Liberal Democrats opposed the flawed logic of that war in Iraq - we will oppose the flawed government claim that we have to surrender our fundamental rights in order to improve our security.
Charles Kennedy
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The terrorist seeks to smash the most fundamental liberty of all: the right to lead our everyday lives on the basic assumption of safety.
Charles Kennedy
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I couldn't imagine a day without music. It relaxes and stimulates me in equal measure and I hate the sound of silence - the concept, I mean, not the track by Simon and Garfunkel.
Charles Kennedy
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Terrorism gravely threatens international peace and security, and as a solution, the power and apparent finality of force are seductive.
Charles Kennedy
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I did not dwell on the issue of Europe during either the 2001 or the 2005 campaigns - despite it being a pivotal personal concern and despite seeing it as something of a litmus test for liberal democracy.
Charles Kennedy
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I am genuinely not an over-the-top kind of person about politics or anything else.
Charles Kennedy
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Whatever the eventual judgment, the political implications of Hutton are already clear. A devastating indictment of Labour in power - and of our political system itself.
Charles Kennedy
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There is no satisfaction to be derived from having had many of our arguments borne out by events.
Charles Kennedy
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Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.
Charles Kennedy
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I'm a lifelong believer in trade unionism.
Charles Kennedy
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The late Roy Jenkins was both a mentor and a personal friend. He was a man of both phenomenal intellect and political achievement in equal measure.
Charles Kennedy
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A smaller-size party and parliamentary membership does not necessarily equate to lesser demands; if anything, the opposite can be the case.
Charles Kennedy
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Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.
Charles Kennedy
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I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.
Charles Kennedy
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When I started knocking on Highland doors in May 1983, two things struck me more than any other. First was the sheer depth of hostility towards the Tories in general. Second was the particular hostility towards Margaret Thatcher and her local ministerial spear-carrier, energy minister and incumbent MP of 13 years' standing, Hamish Gray.
Charles Kennedy
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Like John Major in her wake, Thatcher was convinced that she understood the Scots - yet couldn't understand why we remained so stubbornly resistant towards the notion of understanding her.
Charles Kennedy
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We believe that government in Britain should be working to restore our reputation on the international stage after Iraq and engage better within Europe.
Charles Kennedy
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To run an effective political party you need a degree of tribalism, it's the glue that holds everyone together.
Charles Kennedy
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As Liberal Democrats and proponents of federalism, we must put our heads above the parapet and recapture and disseminate the true meaning of federalism. We have to win the vocabulary before we succeed in the vision.
Charles Kennedy
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The House of Lords has many fine aspects, but at its heart, it is a betrayal of the core democratic principle that those in the enlightened world hold so dear - that those who make the laws of the land should be elected by those who must obey those laws.
Charles Kennedy
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There stands no contradiction between giving voice to legitimate anxiety and at the same time, as and when exchange of fire commences, looking to the rest of the country, as well as all of us in the House, to give full moral support to our forces.
Charles Kennedy
