As the prospect of a Tory government gets nearer many traditional Labour voters - some who switched away in recent times and many who stayed at home - seem more determined to prevent that happening.

Republicans rarely criticize Obama for lack of empathy - in part because liberals have traditionally been seen as standing up for the weak and the vulnerable. Conservatives can be just as empathetic. But they believe that in most cases it's not government's role to be the primary dispenser of empathy.

Including myself the majority of the Korean people believe in this staunch alliance between Korea and the United States and all of us hope that our traditional alliance will be further strengthened in the future.

I got a poster from Columbia Records and there's Miles Davis Charlie Mingus Ellington Count Basie - everybody in that poster has died I'm the only one left. And great players like Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan it's hard to believe they're gone because we were all so close. But I believe in the future and the tradition will go on.

We are a party of innovation. We do not reject our traditions but we are willing to adapt to changing circumstances when change we must. We are willing to suffer the discomfort of change in order to achieve a better future.

Traditionalists are pessimists about the future and optimists about the past.

At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future tradition has placed 10 000 men to guard the past.

People ask 'do you make a conscious effort not to swear?' - if you're doing silly stuff you're not tempted to put swearing in. All the comics from my childhood who were funny without swearing were the people that influenced me. What I do is quite traditional anyway.

American movies and music deliver themes of freedom innocence and power that appeal to others - partly because America itself was put together out of a multiplicity of national traditions.

More than anything else let me be clear - we need to be willing to fight for freedom and free markets and traditional moral values. That's what the American people want to see this movement and this party return to.

Watching President Obama apologize last week for America's arrogance - before a French audience that owes its freedom to the sacrifices of Americans - helped convince me that he has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions.

All major religious traditions carry basically the same message that is love compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

I think that food ties us to our community and our traditions and it's the thing that makes us feel good and connected.

Japan is the most intoxicating place for me. In Kyoto there's an inn called the Tawaraya which is quite extraordinary. The Japanese culture fascinates me: the food the dress the manners and the traditions. It's the travel experience that has moved me the most.

Peruvian food is so simple yet amazingly flavored with their traditional spices.

We don't really go in for big family dinners but Scottish people are famously confrontational. It's a cultural thing so maybe we don't need to have them to clear the air. Also traditional family food isn't as nice here so there's no payoff for traveling hundreds of miles.

St. Louis has a lot of weird food customs that you don't see other places - and a lot of great ethnic neighborhoods. There's a German neighborhood. A great old school Italian neighborhood with toasted ravioli which seems to be a St. Louis tradition. And they love provolone cheese in St. Louis.

The food in the House of Commons is fairly good. The cafe in Portcullis House is really very high quality and you also have a choice of eating in the more traditional restaurants the Churchill Room or the Members' Dining Room. I don't often eat in them though as I'm usually on the run.

I came here because the city has a tradition and is a very respected food city.

The reason that minorities and women don't have a better shot at getting elected to the Senate or to statewide office is because the campaign finance rules are so skewed as to make it very difficult for non-traditional candidates to raise the money necessary to get elected.

How are fears born? They are born because of differences in tradition and history they are born because of differences in emotional political and national circumstances. Because of such differences people fear they cannot live together.

On the one hand the idea of marriage and the sort of traditional family life repulses me. But on the other hand I long for it you know what I mean? I'm constantly in conflict with things. And it is because of my past and my upbringing and the journey that I've been on.

Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are they provide something steady reliable and safe in a confusing world.

I always wanted to be a farmer. There is a tradition of that in my family.