In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher Miss Julia Coleman used to say: 'We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.'

As the prospect of a Tory government gets nearer many traditional Labour voters - some who switched away in recent times and many who stayed at home - seem more determined to prevent that happening.

Pretty much at all times music motivates me. How can I say this without sounding in any way proud of myself? Obviously I've always written songs that are critical of our government and talk about our times. Hopefully you attempt to be timeless while doing it.

New York State is upside down and backwards high taxes and low performance. The New York State government was at one time a national model. Now unfortunately it's a national disgrace. Sometimes the corruption in Albany could even make Boss Tweed blush.

The belief that recipients of government aid are better off the more we spend on them is remarkably persistent. No matter how many times this central tenet of liberalism gets debunked like Brett Favre it just keeps coming back.

I know it's going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we're in. You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money.

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

By definition a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy but nothing more.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And of course sometimes the government confirms their opinion.