"I doubt religion is responsible for as much death as is claimed. Some people love to fight and steal and dominate – t…"

"The world has never been fair, and cannot be made fair, and claims that it can are foolish or dishonest. It can be ma…"

"Dying was by far the most astute and successful thing King John did in his entire reign."

"Their certainty that they were right is worth remembering because it means there's probably stuff we're certain is ri…"

"Trusting the state doesn't make it more trustworthy."

"Once a line of succession becomes open to different interpretations, it has ceased to function."

"The more I thought about it, the more obsessed I became with the idea of a swimming journey. I started to dream ever …"

"From water level, I observed the mating joined in flight like refuelling aircraft, and the random progress of the clo…"

"It is through trees that we see and hear the wind: woodland people can tell the species of a tree from the sound it m…"

"Waterlog (1999), Roger's now-classic account of swimming through Britain, published twenty years ago this year, opens…"