You Would Go Mad If You Began

I Like The Idea Of A Big Caesura Between The Narratives, A Space Which Readers Can Fill In With Their Own Speculative History.

I Was Going To Say 'my Friend Stuart', But I Suppose He's Not A Friend Any More. I Seem To Have Lost A Number Of Friends In The Last Few Years. I Don't Mean That I've Fallen Out With Them, In Any Dramatic Way. We've Just Decided Not To Stay In Touch. And That's What It's Been: A Decision, A Conscious Decision, Because It's Not Difficult To Stay In Touch With People Nowadays, There Are So Many Different Ways Of Doing It. But As You Get Older, I Think That Some Friendships Start To Feel Increasingly Redundant. You Just Find Yourself Asking, "what's The Point?" And Then You Stop.

Sometimes I Feel That I Am Destined Always To Be Offstage Whenever The Main Action Occurs. That God Has Made Me The Victim Of Some Cosmic Practical Joke, By Assigning Me Little More Than A Walk-on Part In My Own Life. Or Sometimes I Feel That My Role Is Simply To Be A Spectator To Other People's Stories, And Always To Wander Away At The Most Important Moment, Drifiting Into The Kitchen To Make A Cup Of Tea Just As The Denouement Unfolds.

Revisionist Historians Are About To Get Their Hands On The Thatcher Years, Shes Probably Going To Be Looked At Again Because She Feels Far Enough Away Now, And We Dont See Her Much On The Political Landscape In This Country, Shes Kind Of Disappeared And She Doesnt Speak Out Much Anymore.

I Had No Sense Of Any Reputation That What A Carve Up! Might Acquire - At The Time I Didnt Even Have A Publisher, So My Main Worry Was Whether It Was Even Going To See The Light Of Day Or Not.