You know when you tell a self-deprecating story at a dinner party, everyone's laughing along with you? But then when someone else repeats that same story at another dinner party you feel they're all laughing at you?

I don't envy young Brits crossing the Atlantic to make their fortunes today.

I expect that in 40 years' time I'll be writing political tomes and working for an organisation like Oxfam.

People in London think of London as the center of the world, whereas New Yorkers think the world ends three miles outside of Manhattan.

America thinks of itself as a meritocracy, so people have more respect for success and more contempt for failure.

I really like the Observer. I think I'd love to have a column with a broad reach that would enable me to do some proper reporting, but keep it on sort of a humorous level. I've always had a very happy experience writing for them.

I wouldn't describe myself as a master of anything.