At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future tradition has placed 10 000 men to guard the past.

People ask 'do you make a conscious effort not to swear?' - if you're doing silly stuff you're not tempted to put swearing in. All the comics from my childhood who were funny without swearing were the people that influenced me. What I do is quite traditional anyway.

American movies and music deliver themes of freedom innocence and power that appeal to others - partly because America itself was put together out of a multiplicity of national traditions.

More than anything else let me be clear - we need to be willing to fight for freedom and free markets and traditional moral values. That's what the American people want to see this movement and this party return to.

Watching President Obama apologize last week for America's arrogance - before a French audience that owes its freedom to the sacrifices of Americans - helped convince me that he has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions.

All major religious traditions carry basically the same message that is love compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

I think that food ties us to our community and our traditions and it's the thing that makes us feel good and connected.

Japan is the most intoxicating place for me. In Kyoto there's an inn called the Tawaraya which is quite extraordinary. The Japanese culture fascinates me: the food the dress the manners and the traditions. It's the travel experience that has moved me the most.

Peruvian food is so simple yet amazingly flavored with their traditional spices.

We don't really go in for big family dinners but Scottish people are famously confrontational. It's a cultural thing so maybe we don't need to have them to clear the air. Also traditional family food isn't as nice here so there's no payoff for traveling hundreds of miles.