'There is a real danger that the new coalition will overlook the urgent need to restore the ladders of aspiration that have been wilfully kicked away since the 1960s'

'It was on the road to Pisa that my family and I had our revelation of the fragility of Western civilisation'

'Alfred Toepfer was not an ambivalent figure: he was a Nazi before, during and after the war'

‘The British people will soon have to make a momentous choice’

‘All is still to play for in this lethal game of blindfold chess’

‘We, the victors of the Cold War, the liberators of the evil empire, could never have accomplished our bloodless triumph without a good measure of idealism’

‘We need to confront the forces of chaos wherever and in whatever form they appear’

‘Italy is a microcosm of Europe: if democracy and the rule of law die there, the writing is on the wall for the rest of us’

‘What do Muslim women want? It is not for a non-Muslim man to say. But I can confidently say what most of them do not want’

‘Obama may preach about audacity but the enemies of the West are more likely to practise it’