I think women want to take care of themselves and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.

The fact that the church is convinced of not having the right to confer priestly ordination on women is now considered by some as irreconcilable with the European Constitution.

After all what is your host's purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself if that were their sole purpose they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.

I see a wiser person than when I was younger: having babies and passing 30 were the turning points. What women in their 40s - I am 39 - lack in gorgeousness they make up for in wisdom. I love ageing despite the drawbacks - thinner drier skin.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

I always envisioned myself having a traditional and elegant wedding.

I had a 2-week courtship with a fellow student in the fiction workshop in Iowa and a 5-minute wedding in a lawyer's office above the coffee shop where we'd been having lunch that day. And so I sent a cable to my father saying 'By the time you get this Daddy I'll already be Mrs. Blaise!'

After I had the Caesarean I was told I had really strong stomach muscles and so would heal very quickly. And I did. I was up walking about within three hours. Six days after having her I was out shopping and shortly after that I made it to David Walliams' wedding.

There is nothing worth having that can he obtained by nuclear war - nothing material or ideological - no tradition that it can defend. It is utterly self-defeating.

The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15 000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit. I don't think there is any point in having wars if that's how you're going to behave. It's pathetic. All this whining!