It just happened that the course of the campaign went negative we actually went positive for a little over a week and you do the tracking of poll numbers and it hurt us. So the public responded to those type of ads.

But I would be naive not to recognize the number of musicians who tell me they have been influenced by me and sight me - as well as Alex and Neil - as a musician who has been a positive influence on their playing.

To emphasize only the beautiful seems to me to be like a mathematical system that only concerns itself with positive numbers.

The job numbers are positive. We've had more jobs created now than were lost during the recession. We're seeing that the creation we're seeing those numbers not only grow but shift toward the private sector and shift toward full-time employment and these are all signs that the recovery is taking some hold but we're not out of woods.

Anyone in politics would like to have great economic numbers.

The Labour party has done more than any other to address gender inequalities through legislation and other means and to increase women's representation in politics which has led to recent increases in the number of female politicians.

In politics the number of women in the cabinet has fallen and if current poll trends continue and Labour loses a number of marginal seats the number of female MPs is likely to drop significantly.

We don't attempt to have any theme for a number of the anthology or to have any particular sequence. We just put in things that we like and then we try to alternate the prose and the poetry.

Poetry especially traditional Iranian poetry is very good at looking at things from a number of different angles simultaneously.

I've done a number of readings at poetry lounges in Vancouver and Los Angeles. I've compiled a book of poetry that's completed and two others I'm working on.