A handful of works in history have had a direct impact on social policy: one or two works of Dickens, some of Zola, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and, in modern drama, Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart.'

One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing.

Of course, in a novel, people's hearts break, and they die and that is the end of it; and in a story this is very convenient. But in real life we do not die when all that makes life bright dies to us.

If you don't have 30 years to devote to social policy, don't get involved.

I'm interested in current affairs and social policy as a whole, but I don't watch politics for sport.

The Supreme Court is not elected, and it is therefore not a proper arbiter of social policy.