Once they were portrayed as the salt of the earth. Nowadays, they take to the streets when paedophiles and asylum seekers are in their midst; they expose their lives in TV documentaries; they love Gucci and hate the Euro - the broadsheets cast them as xenophobes and exhibitionists and mock their tastes and attitudes. Who are the white working class and what have they done to deserve this portrayal?

Michael Collins, Granta Books, 6 June 2005

Emily was determined that her child should come from a country where adoption was properly regulated and China, where many baby girls are abandoned, seemed an obvious choice. Eventually the mountain of bureaucratic and emotional challenges gave way to the utter joy of bringing up Jade and Rose, her two Chinese daughters.

Emily Buchanan, John Wiley & Sons, 20 May 2005

Examines the most intractable problems which toleration encounters and argues that what is really at stake is not religious or moral disagreement but the unequal status of different social groups. Liberal theories of toleration fail to grasp this and consequently come up with normative solutions that are inadequate when confronted with controversial cases.

Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Cambridge University Press, 17 February 2005

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Americans have been willing to give up their liberty, not for security, but for the illusion of security.

Jeffrey Rosen, Random House Trade, 11 January 2005