As the prospect of a Tory government gets nearer, many traditional Labour voters - some who switched away in recent times and many who stayed at home - seem more determined to prevent that happening.

People rightly want our political leaders - on all sides - to concentrate on minimising the damage to jobs, living standards and our savings from the banking crisis.

At times unpopular measures are needed in order to change behaviour.

Like many of my friends and colleagues, I can't get enough of Obama news; latest polling, speeches, visits, reaction of world leaders.

There's a loss of faith in the banking system that for so long has been the backbone of prosperity and growth.

Funding for sports (and the arts) are often the first things facing the chop in difficult times.

In politics, the number of women in the cabinet has fallen and, if current poll trends continue and Labour loses a number of marginal seats, the number of female MPs is likely to drop significantly.

Indeed, when all parties campaign effectively the overall effect is to push up voting rates, as you see in tight marginal seats or close general elections. That must be good for democracy.

Today the demands are for even higher standards in the quality of care, for greater flexibility and convenience in treatment times, and for more prevention through screening and health checks.

At its most basic the democratic contract is a simple one: the right to vote comes with a responsibility to society, through tax payments and citizenship.

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds pay taxes and can join the army, so surely they should in turn be given their right to vote.

It's like we are underground, in a cemetery....the sky is the earth...We are hibernating, sleeping all the time and we don't know it. We are dreaming that there is plenty of oxygen.

Your best creative assets do not occur unless you do a mental shift. You have to be in a positive frame of mind because inspiration is fleeting. I walk to work for inspiration and to clear my mind.

The South is brutalized to a degree not realized by its own inhabitants, and the very foundation of government, law and order, are imperilled.

I've discovered that in order to make big changes in the world, we have to begin at home -- within ourselves

My iPhone has 2 million times the storage of the 1969 Apollo 11 computer. They went to the moon. I throw birds at pig houses

I don't feel qualified to talk about my work.

I was probably not the first to lose my virginity among my friends. I was definitely one of the last ones to reach puberty - I didn't grow until the last couple years of high school.

Wrong doing must be punished. If not, it will proliferate until anarchy wears the robes of tolerance and understanding.

Change happens not just by giving the mind new arguments but also by feeding the imagination new beauties

To be an Indian in modern American society is in a very real sense to be unreal and ahistorical.