I read the papers online, and something usually piques my curiosity - that will then be the baseline of my research for the day.

The radio's pretty much always on, and I also listen to some American podcasts, such as for 'National Public Radio' and 'Newsweek'.

I follow blogs, particularly all the main political ones - Guido Fawkes, Iain Dale, Coffee House, Paul Waugh, Iain Martin in the Wall Street Journal, and so on. And some American ones, like the Huffington Post, Gawker, Boing Boing; or Eater and Daily Candy, also American, which are about where to go to eat.

I have the luxury of getting up quite late, so I hardly ever set an alarm clock.

My relationship has never been good with the government.

The government's objective, broadly expressed, is that all persons, whatever their level of ability, whether they live in town or country, have a right as citizens to a free education of the kind for which they are best fitted and to the fullest extent of their powers.

We've made great progress coordinating better as a government.

We must restore faith in politics. Reform of the House of Lords is only one part of the answer, but it is a vital one.