I was a mixture of being incredibly old for my age and incredibly backwards. I was born quite old but then I stopped growing. I lived with my mum and dad till I was 30.

Age gives you a great sense of proportion. You can be very hard on yourself when you're younger but now I just think 'well everybody's absolutely mad and I'm doing quite well'.

'Bombing Afghanistan back into the Stone Age' was quite a favourite headline for some wobbly liberals. The slogan does all the work. But an instant's thought shows that Afghanistan is being if anything bombed out of the Stone Age.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.