Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.

Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.

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.

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.

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

'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.

A perennial problem that has faced the Scottish Highlands is that, time and again, too many of the more talented young people have had to move elsewhere - even abroad - through a lack of opportunities that should have been available.

A smaller-size party and parliamentary membership does not necessarily equate to lesser demands; if anything, the opposite can be the case.

A society which is liberal democratic cannot have public policy determined upon the basis of who has got the loudest voice - or who can brings things to a halt.

Actually, I think it's quite sensible not to take yourself too seriously.

As I spread my wings in politics, I discovered many Thatcher voters down south who were the same kind of people who loathed her in Scotland. They were puzzled by the Scots' antipathy, given the Falklands war and the strong militaristic history of the Highlands and elsewhere.

As Liberal Democrats and proponents of federalism, we must put our heads above the parapet and recapture and disseminate the true meaning of federalism. We have to win the vocabulary before we succeed in the vision.

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.

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

Britain is a European power. We cannot change our geography. Our involvement in the politics of European cooperation is one of necessity. Our wealth and our security depend upon it.

By common consent, most European countries support the maintenance of robust welfare states and are comfortable with taxation systems that support them.

Decentralisation is controversial - but that's fine. We should be fearless about having a debate.

Democracy demands trust. It demands that sense of mutual understanding. And - it's a two way street. You've got to give - as much as you take.

During my campaign, people of my age and younger said consistently that they would not vote because their votes simply no longer matter and because no government or member of Parliament cared a whit about their problems and their striving for employment.

Fair votes - fundamentally - are about the rights and the interests of the people.

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

Further Education should be about the ability to learn, not the ability to pay - everyone who is able should have the opportunity, regardless of their family background. I don't want to see students struggling with huge debts or frightened off even going to university in the first place.

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.

Gratification and happiness are becoming important measures of our quality of life.

I am genuinely not an over-the-top kind of person about politics or anything else.

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

I believe when the country feels threatened it is important that we are seen to be working together to find an appropriate structure for dealing with terrorists in our midst.

I can hardly think of an occasion when I've got into a stand-up fight with any political opponent. I've got my views, people know what they are, they can agree or they can choose to disagree. I'm not going to waste time just rubbishing everybody else.

I couldn't imagine a day without music. It relaxes and stimulates me in equal measure and I hate the sound of silence - the concept, I mean, not the track by Simon and Garfunkel.

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.

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

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.

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

I find no contradiction between being a Highlander, a Scot, a citizen of the U.K. and a citizen of the European Union at one and the same time.

I have always considered myself of the reforming centre-left.

I know from my own parents how important active older people are to a local community.

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

I should do something about the cigarettes; I quite accept that it's bad for your health, but you know a moderate tipple is positively beneficial and, at certain times, absolutely essential.

I think that former leaders are best seen occasionally and not too often heard - particularly on the subject of their successors!

I think you've got to like people. There are MPs who are either painfully shy or who don't like public speaking or don't socialise very well, and you just think this must be the worst job in the world for them.

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.

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.

I will go out of this world feet first with my Lib Dem membership card in my pocket.

I'm a fully paid-up member of the human race.

I'm a lifelong believer in trade unionism.

I'm not someone who dwells upon past events, taking the view that life is too short.

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

If you were to describe me as teetotal, on behalf of my constituency I'd have to sue; that would lose me every vote in the Highlands.