As a nation we have over the past seven years been rebuilding our intelligence with powerful capabilities that many thought we would no longer need after the Cold War. We have been rebuilding our clandestine service our satellite and other technical collection our analytical depth and expertise.

I love a lot of the New York bands but Patti Smith stands out. I just read 'Just Kids' and it's an inspirational well-written account of an emerging New York artist in the late seventies.

Since we launched the original 'Pop Idol' in England I've remained close with Simon Fuller. Working as executive producer on 'American idol' for its first seven years not only was an inspirational journey into the heart of American pop culture it opened my eyes to the untapped potential of the incredibly dynamic young people in this world.

To me the Seventies were very inspirational and very influential... With my whole persona as Snoop Dogg as a person as a rapper. I just love the Seventies style the way all the players dressed nice you know kept their hair looking good drove sharp cars and they talked real slick.

My greatest strength as a child I realize now was my imagination. While every other kid was reading and writing I had seven whole hours a day to practice my imagination. When do you get that space in your life ever?

I hope that at the end of the seven years people will say that I have been of some inspirational value to them at home in terms of inclusiveness and abroad I look forward to representing Ireland.

You can always get the truth from an American statesman after he has turned seventy or given up all hope of the Presidency.

If we have any hope of finding ways for seven billion people to live well on planet with finite resources we have to learn to use our resources efficiently. Plastic bags are neither efficient nor environmentally friendly.

I certainly notice the vitality in Belfast which wasn't there in the Seventies. There was a war going on then. Now there are cranes everywhere. There really is a sense of renewal and hope.

My mother was one of seven girls whose parents went to bed hungry so their children wouldn't. My father lost his mother when he was nine. He left school and went to work for the next 70 years. They emigrated to America with little more than the hope of a better life.

At twenty a man is full of fight and hope. He wants to reform the world. When he is seventy he still wants to reform the world but he know he can't.

I think my children know that Mother's priority is to be with them first. But I don't think it has to be an either/or situation. Work is very important to me and it wouldn't be in the best interest of my children for me to stay home seven days a week.

I've now been in this country for thirteen years since I was seventeen. So this is my second home.

By the time you get dressed drive out there play 18 holes and come home you've blown seven hours. There are better things you can do with your time.

One in seven Americans lives without health insurance and that's a truly staggering figure.

Seven presidents before him - Democrats and Republicans - tried to expand health care to all Americans. President Obama got it done.

For the amount of money that the country is going to spend this year on health care you can go out and hire a doctor for every seven families in the US and pay the doctor almost $230 000 a year to cover them.