It's totally mistaken to suppose that an armed escort is going to give a journalist any protection - on the contrary, journalists who turn up surrounded by armed personnel are just turning themselves into targets and in even worse danger.

War zones are dangerous, protests can be violent, also, natural disasters are difficult to cover, so there are going to be risks.

I have nothing to do with the selection of stories. I'm the reporter.

I wrote in the book very specifically what I wanted to write about, period, and left it at.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

It wasn't glamorous in my day. In the regions, reporters were seen as such low life that they didn't merit their name in the Radio Times. Now people are interested in being famous. I never gave it a thought.

In any war, there is a concealment of certain kinds of setbacks because it's propaganda for the enemy.