The jealousy and resentment that animate the terrorists also affect many of our former cold war allies.

As a former attorney general. I have the greatest respect for the criminal justice system. But it is not good at intelligence gathering.

According to Richard Clarke the former White House counterterrorism chief Bush was so obsessed with Iraq that he failed to take action against Osama Bin Laden despite repeated warnings from his intelligence experts.

As a former career intelligence professional I have a profound appreciation for the value of intelligence. Intelligence disrupts terrorist plots and thwarts attacks. Intelligence saves lives.

When I went on to write my next book Working With Emotional Intelligence I wanted to make a business case that the best performers were those people strong in these skills.

Regardless of who originally made it popular any hit song becomes a challenge to the ingenuity and imagination of other musicians and performers.

I think great humor lies in playing the truth of a situation. I see myself as a performer and that applies to a Greek drama or a modern comedy.

It's a different outlook and one that I understand. When you are a former member of the Warsaw Pact when you have lived behind the Berlin Wall when you have experienced the communist systems that existed in these countries for them the West represents hope.

To the former child migrants who came to Australia from a home far away led to believe this land would be a new beginning when only to find it was not a beginning but an end an end of innocence - we apologise and we are sorry. To the mothers who lost the maternal right to love and care for their child - we apologise and we are sorry.

Performers are so vulnerable. They're frightened of humiliation sure their work will be crap. I try to make an environment where it's warm where it's OK to fail - a kind of home I suppose.