I Dislike Pastiche; It Attracts Attention To

I Think If The Monarchy Were Removed Tomorrow, It Wouldn't Have A Huge Effect On The National Mind-set.

I Think The Monarchy Today Is. . . Mildly Interesting And Largely Harmless. I Can't Find I Can Get Very Heated About It. In The Next Couple Of Generations, It Is Bound To Go.

It Is The Absence Of Facts That Frightens People: The Gap You Open, Into Which They Pour Their Fears, Fantasies, Desires.

When People Begin To Talk About "our Island Story" My Hackles Rise. It Is Deluded And Conservative.

When I Began To Read As An Adult, I Read Almost Exclusively Novelists Of A Generation Back. I Did The Russians, Then I Started Getting More Up To Date. When You Become Published And Become A Reviewer, Piles Of Books Come Along And You Are Pushed By Fashion And What You Are Commissioned To Do.