I wanted to write about how people's beliefs shift.

Most of the Communists I knew were nice people.

For me, the showbiz memoir is uninteresting - you want to tell people something they don't know about.

Dire Straits is a great band. Someone tells you they like ""Brothers in Arms"" and immediately you know they're a stupid annoying git.

I wanted to write about how people's beliefs shift.

But as in all cults, what's central to the Communist Party is the belief system and the elimination of nuance. From there you're very slowly led down the road to fanaticism and mass murder.

If I won the lottery I'd start a charity that helped little family hardware stores, cobblers and fruit shops open in city centres.