All three of our major religions in Britain ~ Christianity, Islam and Judaism - have a hateful idea at the very core. That idea is Exclusion: the "othering," if you like, of the unredeemed.

As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God

Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.

Bring on the fruitcakes, we want a fruitcake for an unlovable seat.

Nothing corrupts a politician quite as much as friendship. Good politicians don't bribe; they make us like them.

Being an MP feeds your vanity and starves your self- respect.

A great White Bear waits outside. He has faithfully promised to make us all rich if he can but have our youngest daughter.

I try to look cute all the time.

Be modest, humble, simple. Control your anger.

Conflict, when used as a device, makes for good television and bad journalism.

I am clearly vulnerable on the question of socializing under circumstances not appropriate for a married man.

If you have a success, you have it for the wrong reasons. If you become popular it is always because of the worst aspects of your work.

Every luminary in the constellation of human greatness, like the stars, comes out in the darkness to shine with the reflected light of God.

For both writer and reader, the novel is a lonely, physically inactive affair. Only the imagination races.

When you close that door to nowhere throw away the key, we have a tendency to look back and regret

But I am a just man, even to my enemy - and I will acknowledge, beforehand, that they are cleverer brains than I thought them