I don’t think anyone sets out to malign poor people but certainly that’s what we do through organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The Long Walk to Justice.

If you were a pretty boy pop singer, it would wreck you, growing older.

I don’t care who I have to get to, to make this agenda work. They must know that I am in no one’s pocket, that I am not beholden to anyone.

We are dealing with the roots of that [African] poverty.

There is not a single extant study that supports all the arguments against men being with their children. It’s absolute bollocks.

with a wall of celebrities, and no message beyond a vague notion about caring for the poor and wanting politicians to ‘do something’. It obliterated everything else.

We’ve got to go up to the room now.

Actually, today I had to defend the Bush Administration in France again. They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American President for Africa. But it’s...

We live in a broken world which has never been healthier, wealthier or bizarrely, free of conflict, but some 500 kilometers south of here they die of want, … It’s not only intellectually absurd, but...

Don’t let them tell us it doesn’t work,

It’s like you asked me about the depression thing: you grope towards an understanding of whatever it is your going through, and it’s not personal, there are forces in play around you, and you seek...

I am not giving tacit approval. What I am trying to do is agree to help formulate a policy that I would agree with.

Poor old Paul. He’s getting it in the neck from Bono while he’s touring up in Canada and he’s getting it in the teeth from me,

This is the most important tour in Ireland since the Rats because I’ve built up a body of songs, since we split, as a solo artist.

From the very get-go, everyone was aware of this: what’s the point of signing up if no one’s going to do it?

It’s going to have to happen now because China will be all over Africa…and they will embrace any government.

And part of that is, what is the point of having children if you don’t have the privilege of bringing them up?

Paul, join the club, dude. It’s not that hard.

to do something unparalleled in the world, and especially at the beginning of the 21st Century, and that is to tilt the world a little bit on its axis in favor of the poor, and...

Mankind at its most desperate is often at its best.

It is filthy money made on the back of the poorest people on the planet. Stick it where it belongs [on people selling Live8 tickets on eBay]

The effect forever on the economic life of Africa is there.

Well, a sort of epiphany: I was in a great band. And it’s very cool to be at 53 and realise that when you were a kid you were in a great band.

This debt deal will benefit tens of millions of the poorest people on the planet,

It really has quite an important effect on people,

But if somebody dies, if something happens to you, there is a normal process of depression, it is part of being human, and some people view it as a learning experience etc.

Irish Americans are no more Irish than Black Americans are Africans.

I think the impetus is still there. This continent cannot be allowed to die nightly in the pornography of poverty that is our news screens.

Men who are not given any voice in this because of the secret nature of the courts, what they’re left with is dressing up ridiculously, but at least using humour to try and draw attention...

The truth is I do have 14 sheep, down in Kent in my house there, and I’ll actually ship them over now to Stephen’s Green and you can all bugger off. That’s where they are...

Some people may, perhaps correctly, view Live 8 as the blink of an eye. Five days later, the horrific, devastating London bombs dissipated the goodwill of the Olympic bid and Live 8.

When I hit 11 so did the careers of Dylan and the Stones. A year later it was the Who and the Kinks.

It says debt, trade and aid in exchange for the Africans coming to the party with good governance. If they don’t come to the party, we can’t help — we’d love to, but we can’t.

Africa must be allowed to trade itself out of poverty,

Certainly, I think being depressed is absolutely part of the human condition, it has to be, if there’s joy there’s its opposite, and it’s something you ride if you possibly can.

Italy … is the least generous of the developed world with regard to aid and that is a shame. We ask the political class, left or right, to change that,

It was just stupid and unnecessary and to be condemned. That won’t affect the decisions of eight men (at the summit).

Music is still above all else the thing that does it for me.

The truth is, I do have 14 sheep, down in Kent in my house there, and I’ll actually ship them over now to Stephen’s Green and you can all bugger off, … That’s where they...

It was to do with politics, not just fundraising and utilizing those things through to its logical end, to the ultimate seat of power. … I think that probably started with George.

E-mails get in the way of serious consideration of what you want to do,

Today is the perfect moment to talk ahead of the WTO negotiations, … The EU must break the deadlock and as of today it has failed to do so.

Divorce is a by-product of the fact that maybe the nuclear unit is gone.

There’s no use in the prime minister coming to Scotland unless he’s prepared to do this deal. Unless he’s prepared he should stay home. Don’t come. You’re not welcome unless you’re prepared to do something...

I just don’t think the violence will achieve anything. The debt campaigners have never been violent, and they have achieved a lot.

Music is what I must do, business is what I need to do and politics is what I have to do.

But that can happen later. We can’t allow this to be sidelined.

The deal could never have happened in the recent crazy market. But in a collapsing market, whole new opportunities present themselves for lean and nimble operators like us.

You can’t trust politicians. It doesn’t matter who makes a political speech. It’s all lies… and it applies to any rock star who wants to make a political speech as well.