I wanted to highlight that whole dreadful process in book publishing that 'nothing succeeds like success.'

I am so happy to be communicating with people on this newest of new wavelengths which to some older people must seem like a kind of magic.

I often feel like a dinosaur. I don't get the technology thing at all. I was on the Internet not long ago for Barnes and Noble, and people were ringing up from all over the world - Australia, Canada, France. I experienced it as an informal chat, which was pleasant, but I couldn't quite take it in. It had a strong element of unreality. I can't be bothered to switch to a computer at my age, though I might get along with e-mail, which sounds appealing.

All I do is give interviews and spend time being photographed.

All politicians are not the same. I've never felt that way. What is the same is that voters get very excited about new faces, like Clinton and Blair - and they have unrealistic expectations that the world will change overnight. A cynical old hand like myself knows that it won't.

I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot.

In the writing process, the more a story cooks, the better.