The British And American Literary Worlds Operate

I Write As Someone Who Has No More Time For Repressive Islam Than He Does For Repressive Christianity Or Judaism, But At Least Look At The Face In The Hijab - And Try To Imagine The One Beneath The Niqab - Before You Depersonalise Its Wearer.

I Can't Remember Who It Was Who Advocated That You Should March With The Left And Dine With The Right But I've Often Concurred, Taking The View That I Personify The Great Tolerance Of Britain By Consenting To Being Regally Entertained. Besides, There Is A Degree Of Truth In The View That While The Left Are Worthier, The Right Are Wittier.

We've Clearly Entered A Period In Which The Analog Of Text Is No Longer Important Or Relevant. All Text Will Be Electronic. I Accept That Fact. My House Has Thousands Of Books In It, And I've Started To Look At Them Completely Differently. They Now Seem To Me To Be Like Antiquarian Objects. Their Use Value Has Become Negligible To Me Because I'm Perfectly Happy To Read On An E-reader.

Always Carry A Notebook. And I Mean Always. The Short-term Memory Only Retains Information For Three Minutes; Unless It Is Committed To Paper You Can Lose An Idea For Ever.

Not Only Is The Statistical Madness An Assault On Individuality, It's Also One On Temporality Too. Statistics - Even When Accurate - Are Only An Image Of The Past That Can Then Be Photoshopped Before Being Pasted On To The Future.