Fear of death has never played a large part in my consciousness - perhaps unimaginative of me.

We cannot hope for a society in which formal organized religion dies out. But we can stop behaving as if it was worthy of our collective respect.

On the rare occasions when I spend a night in Oxford, the keeping of the hours by the clock towers in New College, and Merton, and the great booming of Tom tolling 101 times at 9 pm at Christ Church are inextricably interwoven with memories and regrets and lost joys. The sound almost sends me mad, so intense are the feelings it evokes.

My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known - not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in the light of the Resurrection story, or in the quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die.

Everyone writes in Tolstoy's shadow, whether one feels oneself to be Tolstoyan or not.

I'm not saying all publishers have to be literary, but some interest in books would help.

The latest research has revealed that women have a higher IQ than men.