The Worship Of Thomas More

What [margaret Thatcher] Made A Play For Was The Acquisitive: Our Greedy Nature. She Set Aside Other Things Like An Identification With Community, Altruism. The Only Collective That She Understood Was: Rally Around And Slay The Enemy.

It's Complementary. It's Fairly Clear Where The Boundaries Are. When I Start Telling You The Contents Of His Head, I Am Making It Up. But I Try To Make It Up Based On What Is On The Record. So Even My Wildest Speculations [on Thomas Cromwell] Will Have A Root Somewhere.

Like A Historian, I Interpret, Select, Discard, Shape, Simplify. Unlike A Historian, I Make Up People's Thoughts.

Read Becoming A Writer By Dorothea Brande. Then Do What It Says, Including The Tasks You Think Are Impossible. You Will Particularly Hate The Advice To Write First Thing In The Morning, But If You Can Manage It, It Might Well Be The Best Thing You Ever Do For Yourself. This Book Is About Becoming A Writer From The Inside Out. Many Later Advice Manuals Derive From It. You Don't ­really Need Any Others, Though If You Want To Boost Your Confidence, "how To" Books Seldom Do Any Harm. You Can Kick-start A Whole Book With Some Little Writing Exercise.

It Was A Very Funny Conference. I Knew [christopher Hitchens] Before That. He Had Always Been A Good Angel To Me. He Once Stole A Phrase From Me That Came Out Of His Mouth On Television. I Saw His Eyes Move Sideways. I Thought, It's Alright, You Can Have It! The Conference Was Light On Women. Salman Rushdie Showed Up, They Were Doing Their Own Thing. I Didn't Feel Neglected!