I think attacks on civilians in fact boost morale.

In my view the European culture carries a very heavy responsibility for the creation of Israel... it is a product of both British and Stalin's anti- Semitism, but the British never faced their own complicity in its construction.

I wish I could write lyrical poems, but I just write the way they come.

I'm kind of domestic, untidily so.

Hitler bombed London into submission but in fact it created a sense of national solidarity.

I don't think the British carry a historical consciousness either.

I always feel freelance writers are leading a heroic life. I think that is the real writer's life. On the other hand, it's good to have another job. It gives you something to do.