Next to a lost battle nothing is so sad as a battle that has been won.

I'm sad to see the passing of the great drug warriors. I certainly did my part in that battle and I don't regret any of it.

The state of New Jersey is really two places - terrible cities and wonderful suburbs. I live in the suburbs the final battleground of the American dream where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out a happy life for themselves. It's very romantic in that way but a bit naive. I like to play with that in my work.

I don't expect to win every battle but I think Fred Pierce has enough respect for me that I can go fight my battles and win my share.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is also in many ways a conflict about status: it's a war between two peoples who feel deeply humiliated by the other who want the other to respect them. Battles over status can be even more intractable than those over land or water or oil.

Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle.

If we must not act save on a certainty we ought not to act on religion for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty sea voyages battles!

Over the last half century the television interview has given us some of TV's most heart-stopping and memorable moments. On the surface it is a simple format - two people sitting across from one another having a conversation. But underneath it is often a power struggle - a battle for the psychological advantage.

Broadcasters or politicians or writers who think that they are respecting Struggle Street the battlers by dumbing things down into one-line sound bites are not respecting them they are treating them with contempt. It's our job above all in politics to tackle the big issues and to explain them.

My advice is very simple: if you can win a small battle it gives you confidence in the political process to take on bigger battles and so it is very much a bottom-up grass-roots way of doing politics.