Category: Diary

I can’t help feeling in awe of Rachel Cusk, which can stop you enjoying a book, sinking into its world and allowing it to envelop you. You keep stopping to admire the view. With the previous trilogy (Outline etc), I could do both. I was entranced by the narrative technique, the ‘characters’, the sophistication and… Continue reading Intriguing; hard to love

It’s a shock to think Martin Amis is in his seventies now. Though his writing always had the heft of an author who knows his own power, you cheer for the ruffian underneath, the upsetter, the hatchet-wielder and smasher of conventions. You felt, though, as a reader, that you would always be inadequate to the… Continue reading Inside Martin Amis

Have a great personal connection to a massive factory in mainland China that ships millions of CE-approved masks and examination gloves to Europe every day. It’s late March, and our lovely guy there, let’s call him Jerry, is bombarding us with spreadsheets and Skype messages and calls every day, begging us to ask him for… Continue reading 10 ways not to supply PPE