I Prefer To Write First Drafts As

What The British Seem To Like Are Television Historians And Naturalists, Not Public Intellectuals. You Can't Help Feeling That's Because One Supplies Narrative And The Other Supplies Facts, And The British Are Traditionally Empiricists So They/we Have A Resistance To Theory And To Theoreticians Playing Too Prominent A Role In Public Life.

I Am A Regular If Not Exactly Enthusiastic Patron Of My Local Bookshop. I Try To Buy At Least Some Books There Because I Cling To The Belief That It's Important To Maintain Those Businesses Which Put A Human Face On The Exchange Of Money For Goods And Services.

The Only Proper Suit-and-tie Job I've Had In My Life Was The Two Years In The Late 1980s When I Ran A Small Corporate Publishing Company. I Even Had A Ford Sierra!

I Make No Apology For Preoccupying Myself With Architecture, Television, Conceptual Art, Restaurants And Jane Asher's Cakes.

I Do Have A Fantasy Life In Which I Can Grout Bathrooms - But Not For A Living.