"Former two-time President and chairman of the powerful Assembly of Experts President Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani began to openly criticise the line being taken by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini. Khameini had said that discussion about the legitimacy of the election result should stop, as the result had been blessed by God. This week Rafsanjani said that discussion about the legitimacy of the election result should continue. He said that both words in the 'Islamic Republic' were important, and doubts had not yet been satisfied. He quoted Ayatollah Khomeini in ways that seemed to support the opposition's right to demonstrate. And he said that protesters who have been arrested should be released from prison. He supported greater media freedom."

"Despite a council estate upbringing, I was lucky enough to be the first one in my family to go to university....But I was particularly pleased to be asked to join the government panel on social mobility, because however much we would like to think that work and talent should determine a child's destiny, that's not true for most people. Hopefully the policy ideas we have come up with will begin to change that for the majority."

"People who think that Sharia law threatens UK law tend to confuse UK law and non-legally binding arbitration, which settle disputes outside the legal system....We live under the rule of law, there can only be one set of laws, and that is British law. Not least because our experience with Unity Family has shown that incorrect rulings by some of these so-called Sharia councils go against the fundamental ethos of Islam, and are often more suitable to Pakistani mores. We must reject calls to allow Sharia rulings to be formally recognised in British law under the 1996 Arbitration Act."

"In 2006, British and Canadian forces arrived in Helmand province. We were to hold and secure it. But our forces did not receive the support they needed. Resources were split between Afghanistan and Iraq, and the government repeatedly turned down requests to spend more on equipment, particularly helicopters.

The results speak for themselves. Firstly, Taliban fighters have been able to tap into opium revenues. They have increased their areas of drug cultivation from 71 square milles in 2001 to 400 square miles in 2008. This would not have been possible if our strategy to make the area unsafe for Taliban had been adequately supported."

"...[W]e should resist the temptation to react to the fear of terrorism by turning inwards, reducing ties to foreign countries, and denying more students entry. Reducing the number of foreign student Visas would be counterproductive. The US tried it after September 11th, but has now reversed its approach, realising the harm it is doing. To do the same would be to be cowed into becoming a more closed society. We must remain open, outward-looking and vibrant. It is precisely many of these foreign students who will help their countries to reduce terrorism over the long run."

"The first responsibility is to tell the whole truth. In this scandal, too many commentators have seemed to think that the public interest is best served by their all jumping onto the same bandwagon to tell us the same story: politicians are the bad guys. They are wrong. The public interest is best served by their actually doing what they are paid to do — to report fairly who did what. And that involves admitting that not only did a few MPs make honest mistakes, but that some have come out of these revelations with their reputations actually improved, by claiming little or nothing."

"...[M]ore of us want to leave than ever before. More than half want the UK to leave the EU but keep trading links, according to a recent BBC survey. More authoritative polling from the Economist still shows that over the last fourteen years, the number of us wanting to loosen the UK's ties to the EU has also risen to over 50 per cent. In the BBC's survey, a full 84 per cent agreed that Britain should vote before transferring any more power to the EU....nobody born after 1957 has ever been able to vote on it. Even those who voted to stay in in 1975 did not realise just how many regulations we would subsequently have to follow, and how much they would cost British business."

"If parliament were a business, solutions would be clear. We would cut the numbers employed, bring more talented people in, and give them the resources to get on with doing a better job. The same solution is right for parliament. This means reducing MPs' numbers to improve their aggregate quality. Does anyone really believe we need more than 323, half the current number?...The next task is to bring more talented people into politics. We need to attract MPs who have more life experience and have had a job in the real world. Halving the number of places available would ensure parties picked the best candidates, and a political version of market forces would see the most qualified and competent MPs remain...."

"...Israeli hawks have historically been better at moving towards peace than doves. Begin made peace with Egypt, Sharon left Gaza, Barak — a Labour ex-military hawk — left Lebanon, and Netanyahu gave Palestinians control of Hebron and parts of the West Bank to the Palestinians.

This time round, Netanyahu says he will personally oversee a government committee to improve the West Bank economy. If it works, and Palestinians in the West Bank feel the improvement, then Fatah could come out of this year's likely Palestinian legislative elections with an increased majority, strengthening the moderate Palestinian leadership, and so improving its ability to actually implement any negotiated agreement it might make...."

"The Defence Secretary, John Hutton, has argued that the war in Afghanistan was important because the country had provided Al-Qa’ida with territory in which to train and plan attacks, and that Pakistan mattered because the Taliban were directed and supplied from across its 1,500 mile open border. Whilst that was the accepted picture, few gave any credence to the idea that Pakistan posed a bigger security challenge to the world than Afghanistan. Now, that very idea has been voiced by the top US diplomat in Kabul. According to this new understanding, allied strategy must engage with Pakistan's fate as a matter of urgency."