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.'

First of all Saddam did not win the war even though he says he did I mean you know that's a joke and everybody in the world knows it.

There are people who cannot forget as neither do I the lesson of the years of the Indochina War. Which was first that the state is capable of being a murderer. A mass murderer and a conspirator and a liar.

Really when it comes to gay rights there's two wars going on. The first war is political. But the culture war is over.

In order for a war to be just three things are necessary. First the authority of the sovereign. Secondly a just cause. Thirdly a rightful intention.

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.

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind war banished from the earth.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

To become properly acquainted with a truth we must first have disbelieved it and disputed against it.