If I were asked for a one-sentence sound bite on religion I would say I was against it.

The people at the record company had asked me if I could write a song about my life my relationship with God and where I'm from. Well I can't write a song on purpose my songs come in a moment of inspiration or desperation.

I was associated with a woman who I was involved with and had a relationship with. She asked for money. I felt as though I was being blackmailed or there was some sort of extortion.

No one ever asked what was my relationship with Bart Giamatti. We used to talk about baseball a lot as a player and a commissioner just talk about the game what could we do to help the game where's the game going he was pretty good.

A year or so ago I went through all the people in my life and asked myself: does this person inspire me genuinely love me and support me unconditionally? I wanted nothing but positive influences in my life.

I get asked a lot about getting into politics. I say 'Take a look at politics. You tell me what seems appealing about that.'

Going into politics is something people have asked me about forever.

How does one happen to write a poem: where does it come from? That is the question asked by the psychologists or the geneticists of poetry.

When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous.

As they say one thing led to another and ultimately the British and Irish governments asked me to serve as chairman of the peace negotiations which ironically began six years ago this week.