My literary career was a fluke. Utterly unexpected.

My greatest regret as a writer is that I've never been able to include as many jokes as I'd like.

Cicero smiled at us. 'The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destory one's spirit by worrying about them too far in advance. Especially tonight.

Another of Cicero's maxims was that if you must do something unpopular, you might as well do it wholeheartedly, for in politics there is no credit to be won by timidity.

In a way I'm almost more rueful about the notion of having a non-ideological Labour party than I am about the personality of Tony Blair.

You find out what you think by talking to yourself.

Storytelling has a narcotic power.