If we leave the European Union, yes there will be bumps in the road, inevitably, but we will be in a better position to deal with them.

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.

It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning.

Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children.

For a few spotty years, I was that tragic geek

Proper history teaching is being crushed under the weight of play-based pedagogy which infantilises children, teachers and our culture.

I'm a decentralizer. I believe in trusting professionals.

It's often the case that successful people invite criticism.

I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris [Johnson] cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead.

I have a different starting premise from those 100 academics who are so heavily invested in the regime of low expectations and narrow horizons which they have created.

I will take all the steps necessary to give the NHS at least another £100million per week by 2020.

No popularity exists when tragedy strikes. All that's left are human hearts and love and ache. We all love each other, deep down, and when we see another soul in pain we can't help but hurt too.

I remember thinking as a child that diamonds were stars that fell from the sky as shooting stars. You can only imagine my disappointment at learning the truth of them. I still prefer the stars.

Maintain a good balance. A personal life adds dimensions to your professional life and vice versa. It helps nurture creativity through a deeper understanding of yourself.

My wife and I met right down the street. Our single, 'Just a Kiss' is kind of about that moment. I was trying to replicate that dance-off between Justin Timberlake and Brittany Spears.

A good book is a kind of paper club, serving to rouse the slumbrous and to silence the obtuse.

To be enlightened means that you really don't change, and yet you're nothing but change.

I don't see a white woman. I see a black woman, even though my mother is white. Knowing that has made my life easier, I think.

The American Constitution was not written to protect criminals; it was written to protect the government from becoming criminals.

I was always into cartoons and animation.

Personal’s not the same as important. People just think it is.