The readers get younger all the time, and we're getting older.

How stagnant and tepid the whole British political scene is now is just beyond belief.

I'm not really interested in courting controversy, but I am interested in exploring issues that other people would deem to be controversial.

That's all very well as an abstract moral principle, Avril, a coffee-table theoretical construct, but there's no denying the sheer gratuitous pleasure to be derived from seeing members of the ruling class in pain and torment.

Basically, particularly in Britain, it's a hegemonic thing that people who write tend to come from the leisure classes. They can afford the time and the books.

If there's very strong civic unrest you can see a strong party of the Right emerging, whether it's UKIP [The UK Independence Party] or an even further-right party.

I enjoy the freedom of the blank page.