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" Changes to parliamentary procedure won't transform the lives of the people whom I represent. Decentralising, devolving decision-making and renewing civil society will. "

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" We have a media that presents every politician as being as bad as the next. There is no distinguishing between one good idea or another; no explanation of why constitutional change should be uppermost in the minds of the people I represent. "

David Blunkett

Media

Minds

Bad

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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.' "

" I love the walk although my security team weren't too sure to begin with but I was anxious to be able to lead a near normal life. Whilst walking I do get the chance to meet people and keep in touch. "

" If surveillance infiltrates our homes and personal relationships, that is a gross breach of our human and civil rights. "

" Strengthening our identity is one way of reinforcing people's confidence and sense of citizenship and well-being. "

" I don't think anyone can say I have said one thing in public and done another in private. "

" Privacy is a right, but as in any democratic society, it is not an absolute right. "

" Let's not allow the voice of the people to be overwhelmed by the siren song of those who opposed regulation, who demanded that government should stand aside and let finance and business run the show. "

" 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. "

" We need to build on what we know works - local oversight of schools to keep a check on performance, timely interventions in schools to support those at risk of failing, and partnerships between schools to help each one to improve. "

" I have built my reputation on honesty, I have sometimes been too honest. "

" I should have been a Trappist monk. "

" Being a Labour home secretary in the 21st century means fighting a constant battle against both extreme Right and Left. "

" 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. "

" I prefer a positive view of freedom, drawing on another tradition of political thinking that goes all the way back to the ancient Greek polis. "

" Simple numbers of people of a particular age tell us nothing about the condition of their health, the environment in which they live, and the support systems they can afford to pay for. "

" 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. "

" As home secretary, I gained a reputation for being 'tough'; less concerned with liberty than with public protection. "

" Throughout my political life, I've not been a stranger to controversy. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Yes, it will go through the disciplines that all puppies go through including house training and puppy walking, then at twelve month old it the training becomes a lot more rigorous which has to be done carefully otherwise you are in danger of stressing the dog. "

" I was affected by the harshness of government, the reality of 16-hour days, and the pressures of modern communications. "

" Politics is only worthwhile if you are doing what you believe, regardless of the slings and arrows. "

" I said it's impossible to have an amnesty without ID cards and a clean database, because you firstly don't have any incentives for people to actually come up front and register, and make themselves available, and secondly you have no means of tracking them. "

David Blunkett

Cards

You

" 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. "

" If you don't create a sense of order and stability, if people do not feel secure, then progressive politics is dead. That is a fact of history. The right has always emerged supreme when destabilisation and insecurity prevail. "

" It is a mistake to separate learning for work and for community and personal development. "