Ken Livingstone

You lose power in Britain and you are just Joe Public again.

I think democracy's undermined when those who own newspapers fill them with trivia rather than real issues.

I actually think the civil service, who are the malignancy at the heart of public life, have consciously prevented, talked ministers out of, made it difficult regulatory-wise, to allow more pressure on alternative energy sources to grow.

If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it.

I have no interest in managing my financial affairs.

Most kids don't get to go their parents' wedding.

I employed my wife for three years to sit in the attic and type up my autobiography, 700 pages, organise everywhere I go. I'm paying the normal rate of tax on the money I take out for myself.

Short of being prime minister there isn't a better job in British politics than running London.

I was a weedy kid, not like one of those working-class men who can accommodate not being academically clever by physical strength and prowess.

Press TV is one of the few TV channels anywhere in the West that fairly presents the Palestinian case.

I could not cherish London and not value Jewish London. The contribution of Jews to London is immense - politically, economically, culturally, intellectually, philanthropically, artistically.

Most people are not shocked that I am occasionally rude to journalists. They are probably amazed I don't punch one in the face.