In Britain, by contrast, we still think that class plays a part in determining a person's life chances, so we're less inclined to celebrate success and less inclined to condemn failure. The upshot is that it's much easier to be a failure in Britain than it is in America.

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

Top Chef is a very smooth-running machine. All the people working there are incredibly professional and absolutely at the top of their game.

I think that magazines like Vanity Fair are still operating under the old rules, and that if you come to work for a magazine like Vanity Fair, even today, you're certainly expected to treat people like Peggy Siegal very deferentially.

My life's ambition is to play a James Bond villain. I have the cat and the eye-patch, so I'm just waiting for the call. For some reason, though, the phone hasn't rung.

I miss being fawned over by restaurateurs and chefs.

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