But in the first Gulf war the United Kingdom was not under any threat from Iraq, and is still less so in the second one. Then there is no justificati….

I sailed through my childhood with a complete lack of any drama..

My job is to get to the heart of a story, to find out what's really going on; to get it verified and, then, to get it out to as many people as possib….

I keep telling myself to calm down, to take less of an interest in things and not to get so excited, but I still care a lot about liberty, freedom of….

I've never been one to sit around and eat my heart out. Life's too short..

I never desired to go into war zones. I never had any thought about it. It sort of just happened as part of the job..

People always seem to assume that we have a full, back-up support team - make-up, costume and a driver - but usually, in a war zone, there's only me ….

I have never been attracted to any kind of violence..

Now children as young as nine carry AK47s which can kill 30 people in seconds..

I was timid and frightened as a child. Yours truly did not shin up mountains or do any other kind of adventurous stuff..

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it..

I also read modern novels - I have just had to read 60 as I am one of the judges for the Orange Fiction Prize..

Beslan, where the Russian authorities stopped live coverage of the school being stormed, was an illustration of the progress we still have to make..

I don't want to be involved in endless media gossip..

It's totally mistaken to suppose that an armed escort is going to give a journalist any protection - on the contrary, journalists who turn up surroun….

No two wars are identical..

On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA, but we have always ….

Hair is also a problem. I remember once, when I was reporting from Beirut at the height of the civil war, someone wrote in to the BBC complaining abo….

There was no equal pay law when I started working. I was no different to any other woman in any other job at the time..

I wrote in the book very specifically what I wanted to write about, period, and left it at..

I have nothing to do with the selection of stories. I'm the reporter..