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All Quotes by author - David Blunkett
" And we think that our citizens and yours would be very angry if they thought that we hadn't taken every possible step for prevention and then for joint action in the likelihood of those who threaten our lives and our well- being, taking action at the same time. "
Step
Angry
Think
" As a former home secretary, I have access to and knowledge of the workings of the system in a way that individuals unfamiliar with the courts can never hope to have. "
Way
Never
Knowledge
" As education and employment secretary in 1997, I inherited hundreds of schools where the roofs leaked, the windows rattled, and they relied entirely on outside toilets. "
Outside
Employment
Education
" As home secretary, I gained a reputation for being 'tough'; less concerned with liberty than with public protection. "
Home
Reputation
Liberty
" At school, I was brought up on revolting food - sausages, sausages and Spam - but at home, I had the most wonderful sponge puddings, which I don't indulge in very often now. "
Home
School
Now
" At this very moment in time there will be people making, breaking relationships, regretting deeply what they've done, and causing hurt, but that is a fact of life, and if we weren't full of emotion, we'd be automatons, and I don't think people want us to be that. "
Life
Moment
People
" Back in 2003, when I was home secretary, I introduced the victim surcharge on offenders to substantially expand the support available and, I hoped, the protection of witnesses who were brave enough to come forward. "
Home
Brave
Enough
" Balancing the common good with the freedom and liberty to exercise that individuality has been and remains a challenge for those committed to democracy while understanding that the polis ensures our participation and therefore our citizenship. "
Good
Freedom
Democracy
" Being a Labour home secretary in the 21st century means fighting a constant battle against both extreme Right and Left. "
Battle
Fighting
Home
" Being an MP is not a desperately hard life, like going down the pit or working in the steelworks - with which I am all too familiar, having been brought up in the city of Sheffield; and it certainly isn't badly paid compared with any of my constituents. "
City
Working
Life
" Being home secretary involves having to face some of the worst of human behaviour and challenges of modern society. "
Challenges
Worst
Society
" Bishops and judges are some of the best politicians in the world. They know how to manipulate the political process. "
World
Political
Know
" Businesses that fail to develop their staff are twice as likely to collapse. Firms seeking to reposition themselves for the economic upturn need to invest in their staff's flexibility, responsiveness and skills. "
Flexibility
Twice
Skills
" But any perception of this application being speeded up requires me to take responsibility. "
Up
Perception
Me
" By confirming the importance of politics and politicians in Britain, we can build from the bottom up and begin to reverse the worrying anti-politics trend, which will empower the elite technocrats and leave defenceless the man or woman in the street with a mere vote to cast. "
Man
Vote
Street
" Changes to parliamentary procedure won't transform the lives of the people whom I represent. Decentralising, devolving decision-making and renewing civil society will. "
Civil
People
Society
" Children whose parents return to study do much better at school. Offenders who persist with studies are much less likely to reoffend. The national mental health strategy recognises the important role adult learning can play for people recovering from mental illness. "
Health
Learning
School
" Crucially, I'd like to thank Labour party members up and down the country for sticking with us. For their active citizenship, their willingness to engage in our democracy, and for being there at the cutting edge of making our democracy work. "
Citizenship
Democracy
Work
" Despite being in public life, I value my own privacy immensely and would be as concerned as anyone else if I thought my mobile phone records could be easily available to officials across government. "
Thought
Government
Phone
" Faith in technocrats over politicians is not a trend from which Britain is exempt. "
Faith
Trend
Which
" For six and a half years, I had responsibility for leading the Labour party policy on education and delivering on our promise of improved opportunities for all our children. "
Responsibility
Education
Children
" Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, in hosting the G20 summit and in the budget, must display the same boldness in tackling the instability at home that they do in promoting a worldwide answer to the global meltdown. "
Answer
Same
Home
" History teaches us that, whatever we say, racists will always distort the words of mainstream politicians to make themselves sound more respectable. "
Words
Say
Politicians
" How to strike the right balance between our privacy and our expectation that the state will protect us and facilitate our freedom is one of the most difficult challenges facing us all. "
Challenges
Freedom
Privacy
" Human nature is you get carried away, so we have to protect ourselves from ourselves. "
Nature
Human Nature
Human
" I am not a parliamentarian. I am a politician. Some MPs leave and are itching to get back. I don't feel that. This is just a work environment. "
Back
Environment
Feel
" I am nothing if not a loyalist. After 46 years in the Labour party, I've grown weary of the cry: 'If only we had a new, shining, revamped leader, all would be well.' "
Cry
Party
Nothing
" I am totally in favour of reform - but it must be reform that changes the nature of British politics, not simply the makeup or operation of parliament. "
Nature
Changes
I Am
" I believe Britishness is defined not on ethnic and exclusive grounds but through shared values; our history of tolerance, openness and internationalism; and our commitment to democracy and liberty, to civic duty and the public space. "
Commitment
Space
History
" I did not in late November start the plethora of linking my private life with public events again. "
November
Late
Events
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