Dreams have always been my friend, full of information, full of warnings.

America can be a very hysterical country intellectually and very puritanical, too. You probably have fun in private, but to the rest of the world you seem to hate fun - to be big on agendas and short on spontaneity. The image you present is one of appalling conformity. The thought police is what you are ruled by.

I wonder why do wars suddenly start and suddenly stop, and why do we Brits and you Americans get involved in some of them and not in others? Is it possible that the arms manufacturers quietly foment wars without us knowing? Dropping bombs is a very profitable business for them. Gore Vidal was talking about this the other day, and he made a lot of sense. Whenever American policy seems inscrutable, he said, remember the military-industrial complex. He's the one who should have been President.

An interim report - that is what an autobiography is.

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.

When young I did my best to undo that bit of the British Empire I found myself in: that is, old Southern Rhodesia.

All my friends' mothers were appalling women.