What if I pulled through and the pious faction contentedly claimed that their prayers had been answered? That would somehow be irritating.

Most of the utopian community ideas actually are religious. They're based more on the idea of the monastery than the commune.

If you've led a rather bohemian and rackety life, as I have, it's precisely the cancer that you'd expect to get. That's a bit of a yawn.

But you'll notice, you will notice that Russia and China, invariably at the United Nations, move to block American action, to repress or hem in or punish other kinds of outlaw. Who stands behind Mugabi at the United Nations? Russia and China do. Who tried successfully to prevent the United Nations from speaking with one voice on its most signal violation of its resolutions, Iraq? Russia and China, again. North Korea the same. Burma the same.

In order to terminate a pregnancy, you have to still a heartbeat, switch off a developing brain.

I'd like to prove to other people that it's not the end of everything to be diagnosed with cancer.

And when I was young, my family was perfectly nice. I write a lot about it, as you noticed. But it was rather limited. I think, I don't think anyone in my family would really feel I'd done them an injustice by saying that. We didn't see many people. There were many books. It was as if I wanted to get away from home.