Things happen too quickly, crisis follows crisis, the soil of our minds is perpetually disturbed. Each of us, to relieve his feelings, broadcasts his own running commentary on the preposterous and bewildering events of the hour: and this, nowadays, is what passes for conversation. – Jan Struther, Mrs. Miniver, 1930s

The individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself. – John Stuart Mill

If you look at the footballers, you look at our celebrity culture, we seem to be saying, This is the way you want to be. We seem to be a society that celebrates all the wrong people. – Iain Duncan Smith