David Blunkett Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“I prefer a positive view of freedom, drawing on another tradition of political thinking that goes all the way back to the ancient Greek polis.”

“Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance.”

“The democratic state can sometimes abuse its power as much as those who seek to destroy it abuse fundamental rights and democratic practices.”

“We need dynamic and thriving businesses and a skilled and adaptable labour force to produce competitiveness and prosperity.”

“We've got to get back to old-fashioned politics that's in touch with the people we seek to represent and to avoid self-inflicted wounds.”

“Where asylum is used as a route to economic migration, it can cause deep resentment in the host community.”

“And we think that our citizens and yours would be very angry if they thought that we hadn't taken every possible step for prevention and then for joint action in the likelihood of those who threaten our lives and our well- being, taking action at the same time.”

“As education and employment secretary in 1997, I inherited hundreds of schools where the roofs leaked, the windows rattled, and they relied entirely on outside toilets.”

“Balancing the common good with the freedom and liberty to exercise that individuality has been and remains a challenge for those committed to democracy while understanding that the polis ensures our participation and therefore our citizenship.”

“Being an MP is not a desperately hard life, like going down the pit or working in the steelworks - with which I am all too familiar, having been brought up in the city of Sheffield; and it certainly isn't badly paid compared with any of my constituents.”