To this day some of my closest friends say 'Gaga you know everything's great. You're a singer your dreams have come true.' But still when certain things are said to you over and over again as you're growing up it stays with you and you wonder if they're true.

So here is one of my theories on happiness: we cannot know if we have lived a truly happy life until the very end. This view of life and death was reinforced by my close witnessing of the buildup to the death of Philip Gould. Philip was without doubt my closest friend in politics. When he died I felt like I had lost a limb.

Kurt and I weren't the closest of friends but I knew him well enough to be devastated by his death. For such a quiet person he was so excited about having a child.

At a formal dinner party the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.

The only ones I trust really are my Mum and Dad and those who are closest to me.

I find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places - uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me that concerns me - I find fault.

Traits like humility courage and empathy are easily overlooked - but it's immensely important to find them in your closest relationships.

People drain me even the closest of friends and I find loneliness to be the best state in the union to live in.

There are lots of things which I would love to tell him but in some way I also feel that I lost the person closest to me. And I got a second chance to live. So in a way I feel that I live for both of us... and I will do my best.

I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child and children who are victims of neglect abuse or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention not our divided attention.