After every major conflict - World War I World War II Korea Vietnam the fall of the Soviet Union - what happened was that we ultimately hollowed out the force largely by doing deep across-the-board cuts.

What we want to do is reform the welfare system in the way that Tony Blair talked about 13 years ago but never achieved - a system that was created for the days after the Second World War. That prize is now I think achievable.

I remember an article I can't recall who by it was after the fall of the Berlin Wall which said that now the Wall was down there could be no more class war. Only someone with money could ever say such a thing.

The west has a great deal to answer for in the Middle East from Britain's belated empire-building after the First World War to the US and British policy that condemns modern Iraq to the material and social squalor of a half-century ago.

In April 1991 after the Gulf war Iraq was given 15 days to provide a full and final declaration of all its WMD.

It is the youth who must inherit the tribulation the sorrow... that are the aftermath of war.

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.

The three-year-old who lies about taking a cookie isn't really a liar after all. He simply can't control his impulses. He then convinces himself of a new truth and eager for your approval reports the version that he knows will make you happy.