I'm fascinated by the emergence of a global class. They're highly mobile; they reject the idea of place.

I stand on my public record as a defender of the human rights of Muslims, notably my work for Moazzam Begg and other British Muslims detained without trial in Guantanamo Bay.

I suffer from vertigo. It's paralyzing in extreme situations. The most scared I've been as an adult was trying to conquer that fear by going climbing in Wales.

Intellectuals who live in Hungary, or who wish to work or lecture there, are extremely circumspect in their criticism.

When I try to understand somebody, create a character, I fall into them. When I think writers are telling me what to think, I get harrumphy.

But it's the particularity of a place, the physical experience of being in a place, that makes it onto the page. That's why I don't just do library research. I very rarely write about somewhere I haven't been.

I like moral judgment to emerge from the reader. We are being sold a very simplistic morality by our leaders at a time when nuance and understanding are at a premium.