To involve young people and make sure that the system is more relevant to them in Scotland, we have a clear obligation to implement a policy of home rule.
We all accept the world would be safer without Saddam’s baleful dictatorship.
Whatever the eventual judgment, the political implications of Hutton are already clear. A devastating indictment of Labour in power – and of our political system itself.
The House of Lords has many fine aspects, but at its heart, it is a betrayal of the core democratic principle that those in the enlightened world hold so dear – that those who make the laws of the land should be elected by those who must obey those laws.
Those who use our public services should be able to deal directly with those who manage and deliver them.
Taking a principled and consistent stance over Iraq has attracted much criticism from our detractors and opponents.
My health is good and it’s up to me to keep it that way.
I did not dwell on the issue of Europe during either the 2001 or the 2005 campaigns – despite it being a pivotal personal concern and despite seeing it as something of a litmus test for liberal democracy.
Like John Major in her wake, Thatcher was convinced that she understood the Scots – yet couldn’t understand why we remained so stubbornly resistant towards the notion of understanding her.
I believe that our country is a richer, more vibrant society precisely because it is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society.
Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.
In my view, nations together are stronger than when they are isolated. And because they are stronger, their people are more free, not less.
I believe when the country feels threatened it is important that we are seen to be working together to find an appropriate structure for dealing with terrorists in our midst.
Of all the principles which constitute Liberal Democracy, internationalism is the clearest, the most distinctive, and the one with the longest history.
The most special relationships, in my experience, are based on a combination of trust and mutual respect.
I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.
Soon after the 1997 election, I argued that there was no inverse law of political gravity which said that everything which went down had to come back up.
There are hard choices to be made in balancing the country’s security and an individual’s liberties. But it is a choice that has to be faced.
This country has a proud history of opening its doors to generations of people fleeing personal persecution, civil unrest and war.
When it comes to our public services, decentralisation means giving power back to those on the front line – our doctors, nurses, teachers and physiotherapists, and our locally elected officials.
We need a liberal agenda in which government resists the temptation to interfere in the lives of individuals but is equally determined to play an active role where creative action can advance the liberties of all.
During my campaign, people of my age and younger said consistently that they would not vote because their votes simply no longer matter and because no government or member of Parliament cared a whit about their problems and their striving for employment.
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