I think people are more in contact now with the consequences of war than they've been for a very long time. And that's what amazes me when sometimes politicians seem to forget their history. They don't look and re-learn about what has happened before. Maybe they haven't got the memory, maybe they're already too young, but you can see how we become puffed up, and how we as a nation rise so quickly if we're not careful.

Live an interesting life. Meet people. Read a lot and widely, learn from the great writers

Don't worry about writing a book or getting famous or making money. Just lead an interesting life.

Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart.

We have bodies coming home and coffins covered in flags, not just in the UK but world-wide.

Any story you write about war, or film you make about war, is bound to be political whether you like it or not.

I don't know, but I do think that everyone has a story to tell. The question is, can they find the voice and the confidence to tell it? We lack the encouragement as young people to believe this; we very often think that writing is for clever people, which it isn't.