Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.

Of course everybody makes mistakes and we've all been young and stupid. But people need to have a sense of respect particularly in this business because hundreds of people are ready to take your place at any time. Maybe some people should think about that.

Instead it appears to be a particular mark of beauty that it is considered with tranquil satisfaction that it pleases if we also do not possess it and we are still far removed from demanding to possess it.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned. But I remember the beauty and thrill of being moved by Broadway musicals - particularly the endings of shows.

It used to happen in villages and towns in China that they would have - I guess you'd call them beauty contests - where all of the women of a particular village or town would be seated behind these screens or curtains with only their feet showing.

Sometimes I think I might not have written 'The Age of Miracles' if I hadn't grown up in California if I hadn't been exposed to its very particular blend of beauty and disaster of danger and denial.

I always loved aesthetics. Not particularly fashion but an idea of beauty.

I've never had any illusions about being a lead actor in films because lead actors have to be of a certain kind. Apart from the beauty of looks and figure which I cannot claim to have there's just a particular kind of ordinary-Joe quality that a film star needs to have.

Having a child makes you strong and gives you chutzpah. It relaxed my attitude to the job my center of focus shifted which I think is very helpful because even if you're not a very indulgent actor you spend a lot of time thinking about yourself. I don't think that is particularly healthy.

Liberalism is a really old British tradition and it has a completely different attitude towards the individual and the relationship between the individual and the state than the collectivist response of Labour and particularly Old Labour does.