Originally I wanted to be a diplomat, and by attrition I started giving up that idea.

If you travel in countries like Morocco, and I say that because I have just come from Morocco, if people are shouting at each other in an argument, violence is not going to follow. That would be just so far removed.

In both places [Paraguay and Newfoundland] people rise despite everything - both are pretty tough environments.

I am always surprised when people do get upset. Perhaps its just the nutty people who write to newspapers who get upset.

I wonder if this reason is partly geographical, that talk radio is so much more successful in North America than in Britain? People who are very remote - I'm thinking of Newfoundland - feel very connected though the radio.

I'd like to write fiction. Perhaps at some stage.

There is a whole genre of funny travel writers - that's very popular. There's Bill Bryson and people who follow that route and sell travel writing through making people laugh. It's a very difficult group to take. The line between comedy and mockery is sometimes a bit thin.