It May Be A Cliché,

The Truth Of The Matter Is, Beauty Is A Specific Thing, Rare And Fleeting. Some Of Us Have It In Our Teens, 20s And 30s And Then Lose It; Most Of Us Have It Not At All. And That's Perfectly Okay. But Lying To Yourself That You Have It When You Don't Seems To Me Simple-minded At Best And Psychotic At Worst.

In Barcelona, Things Seem So Different. For Example, I Know That It's Traditionally The Least Spanish City, But You'd Never Know They Had A Monarchy, Coming Here As A Tourist - As Opposed To The Uk, Where The Queen Is Probably The Best-known Animal, Vegetable And/or Mineral Going When It Comes To Overseas Visitors.

Graham Greene Famously Said That All Writers Need A Chip Of Ice In Their Heart; Cusk Can Come Across As The Most Beautiful Ice Palace Of Stalactites And Stalagmites, And Some People Find Her Company, Albeit By Proxy, About As Inviting As A Long Weekend In A Walk-in Frigidaire.

I've Never Been Nostalgic, Personally Or Politically - If The Past Was So Great, How Come It's History?

These Women Whose Antics We Smirk At Good-naturedly In The Pap-traps Put Themselves Out There At Least Partly On Their Beauty; They Are In Showbiz, And Showing What They've Got Is Part Of Their Business As Much As It Is For Male Show-ponies From The Chippendales To George Clooney.