I'm sure some cynical people would point to that as the main reason for doing it for a lot of people.

Some men are deeply likable but have attitudes I don't like. Does that mean I should completely dismiss them? It's like saying: if someone votes Tory can you like them? And, yes, I can. I have friends who vote Tory, and I'm appalled, but that's not to say they're not great people in so many other ways. We have a tendency to oversimplify things.

I like to read my diary occasionally to remind myself what a miserable, alienated old sod I used to be.

By crying on my bed, drinking quite a lot and feeling tempted by drugs. Well, just not reading it to be perfectly honest with you. I know it's a bit of a copout.

When I was a nurse my favourite assignment was the anorexic ward. I sometimes ate as many as seventeen dinners

I have friends who vote Tory, and I'm appalled, but that's not to say they're not great people in so many other ways.

You don't really see ugly people that are old, or a bit grotty and smelly, in the media. If a Martian came down, they would think we were all tall, thin, attractive and wealthy.