Say what you want to say about the rest of his presidency including his tone-deaf response to Katrina and a war waged in Iraq on false pretenses Bush connected with Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 because he looked as frail and unforgiving as we felt.

Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat to the United States will come after the war either via Latin America or within the United States itself.

The United States established itself as a trustworthy new nation in its first two decades after the Revolutionary War by paying its debts even when many in the country believed it had no obligation to do so. Alexander Hamilton the founder of this newspaper insisted on it.

I had nearly finished school because I was making effort not that bad on that. But there was a law in Germany after the war. You could not make your final examination before 18 so lots of people who were late because of the way had to do it first.

I did a production of 'Journey's End ' an RC Sherriff play about World War I at the Edinburgh Festival. I was 18 and it was the first time that people I knew and loved and respected came up to me after the show and said 'You know you could really do this if you wanted to.'

Australians are coffee snobs. An influx of Italian immigrants after World War II ensured that - we probably had the word 'cappuccino' about 20 years before America. Cafe culture is really big for Aussies. We like to work hard but we take our leisure time seriously.

I interviewed survivors I went to Poland saw the cities and spent time with the people and spoke to the Jews who had come back to Poland after the war and talked about why they had come back.

People never lie so much as after a hunt during a war or before an election.

Think of what happened after 9/11 the minute before there was any assessment there was glee in the administration because now we can invade Iraq and so the war drums beat.

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.