I used to think that when I set out that doing the research was enough! But then the gaps would emerge that could only be filled by the imagination. And imagination only comes when you privilege the subconscious, when you make delay and procrastination work for you.

Hindsight is the historian's necessary vice.

I used to think that when I set out that doing the research was enough! But then the gaps would emerge that could only be filled by the imagination. And imagination only comes when you privilege the subconscious, when you make delay and procrastination work for you.

[H]ope takes you by the throat like a stranger, it makes your heart leap.

I am sure that all politicians seek the home connection with the voter. But [Margaret Thatcher] carried it to extremes.

The word 'however' is like an imp coiled beneath your chair. It induces ink to form words you have not yet seen, and lines to march across the page and overshoot the margin. There are no endings. If you think so you are deceived as to their nature. They are all beginnings. Here is one.

Like a historian, I interpret, select, discard, shape, simplify. Unlike a historian, I make up people's thoughts.