I like the idea of an open, international London that thrives on attracting hard-working, talented people but has the confidence to tell them they must play by the same rules as everyone else.

And with a last stardrop, a last circle, I arrive, and she's there, chemical wonder in her eyes.

When I'm really plugged in I find it difficult to write. It's like digging a well. If you make a void, something moves in to fill it. Writing books is like that. It's mostly about freeing up time, doing nothing, and in that time some writing starts to happen. We need to figure out how to maintain those voids.

The world seems concerned with Pakistan primarily as an actor in global attempts to combat terrorism.

As a society, you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of your own difference, assumptions of your own superiority. And you acted out these beliefs on the stage of the world, so that the entire planet was rocked by the repercussions of your tantrums, not least my family, now facing war thousands of miles away.

If we try to 'protect ourselves', our nation-states begin to look like prisons.

When the uncertain future becomes the past, the past in turn becomes uncertain.