I exist as an annexe of the BBC. I'm down the road a bit from the main building, in a little hut.

I feel sorry for many politicians we expect them to be completely consistent and moralised when we're not.

I liked 35 and in both my novels that is the age of the lead characters. I tried making them my age but they just seemed to keep moaning about stuff.

Honestly, sometimes I get really fed up of my subconscious - it's like it's got a mind of its own.

It always seemed to be a constant that my parents were political.

I suppose the common idea of me is that I'm going to be someone who's hyper and cracking jokes all the time, but people who meet me are soon disabused of that notion.

Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, may have had his charms, but he really couldn't be considered hip.