I'm always interested in debunking myths if they are untrue. But it's also important to identify myths and how they function, what value they may have.

I think England has been in the long-term damaged by Britishness.

Darwinism did not strip meaning from the world but intensified it, 'by identifying it in as many aspects of life as possible'.

But the people did get it. They had lost something -- not exactly their fear, but their patience. Suddenly it seemed unbearable to go on accepting these systems, these portly little idiots in their blue suits, for another year, and then for another day, another hour. That special sort of impatience is the power-surge of revolution.

On the Black Sea, my father saw it begin. And on the Black Sea, seventy years on, I saw the beginning of its end.

To be defeated, but not to give in, is victory.

Who invented political tolerance? The English invented it, it's something which has taken roots with some difficulty in Scottish politics.