Jonathan Powell

Politicians do not enter into wars lightly. It is usually the military themselves who are keener to become involved.

There is no conflict in the world that cannot be solved.

I started off in radio, then made little films for Granada. I applied for a job at 'Weekend World,' and they turned me down; I'd also applied to the Foreign Office, which accepted me.

Maybe strong leaders are not quite as alluring as we think, and we should celebrate the fact that our leaders are just like us. Just because one candidate can't remember his whole speech and the other likes to put his feet up on the job doesn't mean they can't govern.

I do not think that war is always wrong: sometimes it is necessary to stop a dictator, prevent massive human-rights abuses, or expel an invader. But I have also seen that in the modern world, civil wars are the greatest threat to humanitarian security.

You can't negotiate in public. People won't make concessions in public. They will do that in private. Like sausage making, you have to do it behind closed doors.

If there is a political cause, then there has to be a political solution.

Terrorism seems to be the ugly twin of democracy. We need to learn to live with it because we are vulnerable to it.

I'd love to have a proper sailing boat and go around the world.

All the things I've done are about duty and guilt: trying to do your best to better other people's lives.

When it comes to terrorism, governments seem to suffer from a collective amnesia. All of our historical experience tells us that there can be no purely military solution to a political problem, and yet every time we confront a new terrorist group, we begin by insisting we will never talk to them.

If you are going to make peace, you can't just meet nice people.