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But I am an optimist about Britain; and the difference between an optimist and a pessimist is not that the optimist believes the world is wonderful and the pessimist believes it's beset by challenges; the difference is the pessimist believes we will be defeated by them; the optimist thinks the challenges can be overcome.
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Enough of talking: It is time now to do.
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I'm an avowed centrist, and I believe that - centrism is often - it's almost the wrong word to use, because it's often seen as sort of splitting the difference between right and left.
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There is no doubt that the time to act is now. It is now that timely action can avert disaster. It is now that with foresight and will such action can be taken without disturbing the essence of our way of life, by adjusting behaviour not altering it entirely.
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I see the Koran very much as an outsider. It stands in the great prophetic tradition of trying to return people to the basic principles of spirituality. Taken for its time, it was an extraordinarily progressive declaration of principle. It is also extraordinary for a Christian to read: for example, there are more references to Mary than in the Gospels. The tragedy is that it has been so warped and misapplied.
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I think, there is a possibility - I would say it's more than that - that we will come to a view of foreign policy going forward that learns from the past but doesn't get captured by it.
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I abhor Saddam's regime, but the basis has to be disarmament.
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I can only go one way. I've not got a reverse gear.
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Actually the royal family were very gracious and good to me. But I also found that the British establishment were never quite sure what to make of me. I was a Labour figure, but I'd come from a very middle-class background. In one sense I offended both traditional right and traditional left. But I thought that was no bad thing.
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My course has never been about triangulation, and neither, really, is Bill Clinton's. It's not - it's about applying your values to the future in a practical and unblinking way, and that is an ideological view that is every bit as strong as views from the left or from the right.
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If I'd proposed solving the pension problem by compulsory euthanasia for every fifth pensioner I'd have got less trouble for it.
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The British are special. The world knows it. In our innermost thoughts we know it. This is the greatest nation on earth.
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In government you carry each hope; each disillusion. And in politics it's always about the next challenge.
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I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country.
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I may find Saddam Hussein's regime abhorrent - any normal person would - but the survival of it is in his hands.
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There is no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: Defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must.
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If there are further steps to European integration, the people should have their say at a general election or in a referendum.
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Whatever the short term clashes between protecting the environment and eradicating poverty, medium term and long term it is clear. Unless we grow sustainably, at some point we face catastrophe
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In this day and age if you've got the technology then it's vital to use that technology to track people down. The number on the database should be the maximum number you can get.
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You wouldn't be human if you didn't feel both a sense of responsibility and a deep sadness for those who have lost their lives.
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Some may belittle politics, but we know - who are engaged in it - that it is where people stand tall. And, although I know it has its many harsh contentions, it is still the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster. And if it is, on occasions, the place of low skulduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes.
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The great advantage of the Lib Dems is precisely that no-one knows what they stand for.
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Every so often, I feel I should graduate to classical music, properly. But the truth is, I'm more likely to listen to rock music.
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The Iraq Survey Group has already found massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories.