Music and politics are in essence about communication. Without over-stretching the analogy I do feel a sense of rhythm is important in getting your message across.

Quality of life actually begins at home - it's in your street, around your community.

My health is good and it's up to me to keep it that way.

Valuing public servants would boost morale among those on the front line of implementing government policy.

The one thing we can all be sure about in politics is you are as well to expect the unexpected.

Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive - and then being able to take people with you.

The government's instinct is to shroud itself in secrecy - to act like the office of a president instead of as a collective cabinet government held to account by the elected House of Commons.

Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.

I don't actually subscribe to the view that all power corrupts. But absolute power - when secured on the back of massive parliamentary majorities, which don't reflect the balance of political opinion in the country - can corrupt absolutely.

Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.

We have a Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales, both elected by fairer votes - involving proportional representation.

When it comes to our public services, decentralisation means giving power back to those on the front line - our doctors, nurses, teachers and physiotherapists, and our locally elected officials.

Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.

The way to defeat international terrorism is through international cooperation based on international law, clear intelligence, and a measured and appropriate military response.

Politics is much too serious to be taken too seriously; equally, there are many aspects of it so laughable as to be lamentable.

I do think there is a great deal of caricature around the House of Commons. It is just that kind of place.

Speaking to numerous teachers and nurses, I am consistently struck by the sense of mission they have about their work.

Of all the principles which constitute Liberal Democracy, internationalism is the clearest, the most distinctive, and the one with the longest history.

We all accept the world would be safer without Saddam's baleful dictatorship.

If British troops are committed to action, then the nation will, of course, support them. Their courage and skill is not in doubt.

I did not dwell on the issue of Europe during either the 2001 or the 2005 campaigns - despite it being a pivotal personal concern and despite seeing it as something of a litmus test for liberal democracy.

When I started knocking on Highland doors in May 1983, two things struck me more than any other. First was the sheer depth of hostility towards the Tories in general. Second was the particular hostility towards Margaret Thatcher and her local ministerial spear-carrier, energy minister and incumbent MP of 13 years' standing, Hamish Gray.

It must be a judge - never a politician - who decides whether someone is to be locked up.

I want our party to step up its efforts to reflect and champion the concerns of everybody who has reached the second half of their lives.

'Federalism', in the context of political and media usage in Britain, has come to mean the creation and imposition of a European superstate, one centralised in Brussels.

As a Scot, representing a Scottish constituency for almost the past 25 years, I do not harbour an overweening ambition to pronounce on each and every matter exclusively English.

I listened to the students on campus in Plymouth, worried about their steadily deepening debts and how on earth they would ever escape them.

That 1983 general election contained the telltale seeds of eventual Scottish Tory self-destruction.

There stands no contradiction between giving voice to legitimate anxiety and at the same time, as and when exchange of fire commences, looking to the rest of the country, as well as all of us in the House, to give full moral support to our forces.

Liberal Democracy is all about extending choice. Give people the option to decide their retirement age, and you immediately extend their freedom in a very significant way.

Labour politicians for generations have fought to bring democracy to the House of Lords.

I happen to consider myself a Highlander even before a Scot; I am proud to be British yet feel comfortable as a European citizen.

Tony Blair took us to war in Iraq on the basis of the supposed threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

Politicians are good at saying how Government must do more, but we must also think carefully about where Government should do less.

As someone who has led his party through two general elections, I have not always been immune from feeling the pressure of electioneering tactics.

The quicker we get rid of the lobby system the better for all of us. I don't think in this day and age it is tenable to have these nods and winks, and on-the-record and off-the-record briefings.

Useful lessons can be learned from our more successful local authorities - as you move into government, it is even more imperative to communicate speedily and persuasively with your members and your voters.

The House of Lords has many fine aspects, but at its heart, it is a betrayal of the core democratic principle that those in the enlightened world hold so dear - that those who make the laws of the land should be elected by those who must obey those laws.

Just as we Liberal Democrats opposed the flawed logic of that war in Iraq - we will oppose the flawed government claim that we have to surrender our fundamental rights in order to improve our security.

I believe that our country is a richer, more vibrant society precisely because it is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society.

For any new leader of any party at any given time it takes time if you are not in government to establish yourself.

There are hard choices to be made in balancing the country's security and an individual's liberties. But it is a choice that has to be faced.

I don't want a headline saying 'Kennedy suggests this or implies that.'

With 24-hour news... the story moves on with the media.

We should have high expectations of our children, but politicians should not tell teachers how to meet them.

I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.

I'm a lifelong believer in trade unionism.

We Liberal Democrats believe in dialogue. We believe in cooperation with both sides of industry and between both sides of industry. And we believe in the language of cooperation. We reject the language of confrontation.

You won't catch Liberal Democrats describing trade unionists as wreckers.

I want to see far more decisions taken far closer to the patients, the passengers and the pupils. Far more power for locally and regionally elected politicians who understand best the needs of their areas. And far more say too for the dedicated staff at all levels in health and education.