I would love to write a book that opens people's eyes to the more interesting side.

There are 60 million of us [britains] crammed into an area the size of a state. So you don't have that feeling of remoteness at all, ever. And that's reflected in the way our media works, and so on.

This terrible frustration that we so often feel in the West in not being able to articulate and express ourselves.

Benedict Allen gives you the impression that he hasn't done any research at all, and I am sure he has. And when he is off doing his ice dogs and that sort of thing - and therefore its not only an exploration of the place but also his imagination in a sense. It's very successful as technique.

Radio is very popular [in Britain], but it doesn't connect us in the same way. It seems to have this community function.

It never stops me from saying what I want to say about Ethiopia, the fact that a tour company is paid for me to go there. Book reviewers don't pay for the books they review.

I have dipped into Ian McEwan and so on. I tend not to stick with one writer. But I dip in here and there.