I think people in Botswana are pleased that my books paint a positive picture of their lives and portray the country as being very special. They've made a great success of their country and the people are fed up with the constant reporting of only the problems and poverty of the continent. They welcome something which puts the positive side.

I think what is happening is I think first of all there is confidence in the U.K. economy. We're in a German rather than a Greek position in international financial markets which is very positive and keeps our debt service costs down and we're also beginning to see real evidence of rebalancing.

Sometimes you're not even sure which of your stories were failures. There are things I've written that I thought were complete catastrophes when I finished with them that have gone on to generate some of my most positive feedback.

I think positive. I always think we're going to score. Two minutes is a lot of time if you have timeouts and you're throwing every down. You have to make the right decisions. I've always had great receivers which helps. It's not just me doing it.

Political consultants are pugilists masters in the dark art of negativity. Which is why it's surprising to hear Democrats such as Steve McMahon and Republicans like Rich Galen urging their presidential candidates to be more well positive.

Political folk talk a lot these days about 'messaging' - a neologism designed to describe the way in which parties and politicians consciously characterize their efforts. It is only intended to be positive - i.e. 'Our messaging is designed to show we care.'

What I have is P.H. positive chronic myeloid leukemia which is an aberration in your white blood cells.

Indeed our particular concept of private property which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth favors pollution.

There's a fine line between stubbornness and the positive side of that which is dogged determination.

Well you know a lot of people look at the negative things the things that they did wrong and - which I do. But I like to stress on the things I did right because there are certain things that I like to look at from a positive standpoint that are just positive reinforcement.

'Yes' is a far more potent word than 'no' in American politics. By adopting the positions which animate the political agenda for the other side one can disarm them and leave them sputtering with nothing to say.

There was a widespread indignation in the American media. They were saying 'How can you make a movie during an election that's about politics? What are you doing? Are you trying to influence people's lives?' To which my response was 'Well I hope so.'

So my degree was in political science which I think was - the closest I could come to marketing is politics.

When you're young with less on the line it's easier to be audacious to experiment. So I introduced the concerns of my generation - politics sex drugs rock-and-roll etc. - to the comics page which for many years caused a rolling furor.

There has been a shift to what may be defined as a culture of negativity which goes well beyond coverage of politics.

I think that what I'm doing is right. And election-year politics which intensifies everything is not going to drive me off that course.

I've done reasonably well over the last 10 years because I took the strategy of language and politics and applied it to the corporate world which has never been done before.

It's true that it's within the realm of cultural politics that young people tend to work through political issues which I think is good although it's not going to solve the problems.

The proliferation of outlets that digital technology has enabled has itself contributed to the changing nature of what we regard as 'news' and the way in which many citizens perceive politics.

I became active in politics because I saw the possibility if we all sat back and did nothing of a world in which there would no longer be any stages for actors to act on.

My philosophy comes from a worldview that looks at the world as one. It's a holistic view that sees the world as interconnected and interdependent and integrated in so many different ways which informs my politics.

Politics is pop. Our job as comedians - especially me as a late-night talk show which is a broader audience - is to amplify what we think America is thinking.

On the one hand the financial projection is on the agenda - we will see if this problem can be resolved or not. I think it is a right idea to stage a special summit which would deal with the question of priorities of European politics.

My college Fitzwilliam was pretty good but unfashionable and I lived in digs so I was not part of the cloistered 'old college' environment which frankly was a bit intimidating. But I worked hard and settled in by exploring politics and girls.