I love the excess of Christmas. The shopping season that begins in September the bad pop star recordings of Christmas carols the decorations that don't know when to come down.

Imagine a September 11 with weapons of mass destruction. It's not 3 000. It's tens of thousands of innocent men women and children.

Since the attack on the United States on September 11 2001 and the US retaliation in Afghanistan and Iraq there must be few people who have not felt a twinge of nostalgia for the cold war.

Whether we knew many who died on September 11 or personally knew none we all lost something on that day. Innocence. Security. A trust that our homeland would always be safe.

You know people talk about this being an uncertain time. You know all time is uncertain. I mean it was uncertain back in - in 2007 we just didn't know it was uncertain. It was - uncertain on September 10th 2001. It was uncertain on October 18th 1987 you just didn't know it.

The devastating punch we took on September 11th still reverberates throughout American society.

Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but we thought if people needed a crutch for consolation where's the harm? September 11th changed all that.

It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was al-Qaeda. We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust.

There is a direct line relationship between what happened in Afghanistan in the work up to 11 September 2001 and what we're doing in Afghanistan today.

The attacks of September 11 - and subsequent acts of terror from London to Madrid to Fort Hood Texas - embody the most repulsive of human instincts the will to power at the price of the lives of others.

In 'The King's Speech ' patriotism is utterly contained within a historical moment the third of September 1939 where the aggressor is clear the fight is clear it hasn't become complicated over time.

The mobilisation which Bush has been able to perform since 11 September 2001 has to be fought - at least by Americans - in the name of a wise honourable and democratic patriotism.

The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school.

I'm on VH1 now will be working on ITV's This Morning again from September.

We awoke one morning in September and the world lurched on its axis.

'The Panorama' is also the last place anywhere in New York where the World Trade Center still stands whole as it stood in the early morning of September 11. I can also see the corner where I saw the first tower fall and howled out loud. Seeing the buildings again here is uplifting healing.

I have a book coming out in September for example where the plot concerns counterfeiting and I had to do a lot of research on that. Or on any legal matters for example I have to do a lot of research online.

The people and the mindset that killed 3 000 of our fellow citizens on September 11 2001 would have killed not 3 0 but 300 000 if they could have or 3 million or 30 million. We need to do everything we can within our value systems and legal structures to make sure that doesn't happen.

After the chaos and carnage of September 11th it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers.

All of this suggests that while citizens became more comfortable with President Bush after September 11 and thought him to have the requisite leadership skills they continue to harbor doubts about his priorities loyalties interests and policies.

Judy we think that since the 11th of September 2001 we've faced a similar heightened threat level. And we've been enhancing both the exchange of intelligence and security information and the assessment of that information because that's the crucial element.

Mr. Speaker we are a blessed Nation. We have not suffered another attack on our soil since September 11 and we are grateful. We have killed or captured dozens of members of al Qaeda and the Taliban. Our military and intelligence forces are working both hard and smart.

Legislation passed in the aftermath of September 11 2001 enhanced our intelligence capabilities and strengthened our national defense but until now our nation's immigration policies have not adapted to the needs of a post-September 11th world.

This president has been reluctant to hold anybody accountable. No one was held accountable after September the 11th. Nobody's been held accountable after the clear flaws in intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq.