Sixth grade was a big time in my childhood of hoops and friendship and coming up with funny things.

None of us had any idea of how successful Downton was going to be. I thought I was signing up for another period drama that had a slightly modern feel. It had a freedom about it because it was coming out of the head of Julian Fellowes. Anything could happen and generally did.

Only the freedom of mind can prevent the state from becoming totalitarian and from issuing totalitarian demands.

The Paris peace talks kept a roof over my head and food on the table and clothes on my back because if something was said going in or coming out I had the rent for the month.

America is becoming more and more dependent upon imports from foreign manufacturers than we are exports from our country in all fields: in appliances in clothing even food. This year America may become for the first time in its history a net food importer.

When the farmer can sell directly to the consumer it is a more active process. There's more contact. The consumer can know who am I buying this from? What's their name? Do they have a face? Is the food they are selling coming out of Mexico with pesticides?

Food is no longer sacred to us: in becoming too efficient we've changed its nature.

I was a bit worried coming back to the Premiership from America but I have been pleased with my form and the interest I have received has been good for my ego. I have no worries about my fitness and I am really looking forward to the season starting now.

I've published one book before and now I'm writing a book of essays and stories about life in Tokyo. And I have one book coming out in May in Germany about fitness.

And you know the baby boomers are getting older and those off the rack clothes are just not fitting right any longer and so tailor-made suits are coming back into fashion.

Look Congress has allocated more money to finance the upcoming Iraqi elections than it has for the American elections. There's something wrong with that.

Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It's to see my dividends coming in.

I think interviews can be fine. It's just there's this terrible fear of coming off wrongly or saying something that gets taken out of context.

The day in 2004 when the radiologist told me I had invasive cancer I walked down the hospital corridor looking for a phone to call my husband and I could almost see the fear coming toward me like a big black shadow.

I had a fear of becoming anything a fear of becoming a specialist. I might have become a doctor but if you become a doctor that's your specialty in life and you are defined by it. One of the attractions of being a writer is that you're never a specialist. Your field is entirely open your field is the entire human condition.

If the markets had behaved badly that would obviously add to people's sense of alarm... but there has been a lot of reassurance coming particularly in the way the Brits handled all this. There seems to be no great fear that something like that is going to happen here.

Being aware of your fear is smart. Overcoming it is the mark of a successful person.

But with the right kind of coaching and determination you can accomplish anything and the biggest accomplishment that I feel I got from the film was overcoming that fear.

I'd rather be two strokes ahead going into the last day than two strokes behind. Having said that it's probably easier to win coming from behind. There is no fear in chasing. There is fear in being chased.

Over the past few years the road to confrontation has shown its consequences: loss of innocent lives destruction and fear. Most costly however was the loss of hope. The most precious gift that you can present to your peoples over the coming weeks is renewed hope born out of tangible progress on the ground.

I have been thinking about the notion of perfect love as being without fear and what that means for us in a world that's becoming increasingly xenophobic tortured by fundamentalism and nationalism.

Even as we enumerate their shortcomings the rigor of raising children ourselves makes clear to us our mothers' incredible strength. We fear both. If they are not strong who will protect us? If they are not imperfect how can we equal them?

In order to properly understand the big picture everyone should fear becoming mentally clouded and obsessed with one small section of truth.

This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate and be instead a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.