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Read my letter about Greece and Facebook in today’s Indie:

“As Facebook floats on the stock exchange for $100bn, for the want of a similar amount a European country (Greece) is allowed to go down the pan. So a website on which people post their holiday sn...

A couple of years back in “The Independent” I pondered what had become of the English “state of the nation” novel; the sprawling, all-encompassing book that tackles the state we’re in, in a way the Americans seem to do so well:

As the author of two novels set in modern England, I want my fiction to reflect some of the themes of the modern age, such as terrorism, r...

After 7/7, a website appeared called “we are not afraid”, sending out a “message” to terrorists that they would not prevent ordinary people carrying on (regardless?) In response, another website appeared, “I am fucking terrified”, its rallying cry: “join us in showing the world how shit scared we are”,

As the London Olympics approach, Chris Hook finds himself becoming bitter about his own life and the way the city he loves seems to be falling apart. He has always prided himself on his impeccable socialist credentials and his tolerance; for a variety of reasons, partly due to the ongoing terrorist threat, partly because of his daughter’s problems at her north London secondary school, partly because he is stuck in a rut and doing a job he h...

Great to be invited to the launch of artist Ruth Ewan’s latest project last night: “How to make Archway Tower disappear”. The project is all about the aforementioned tower, which has loomed large over my life for much of the past thirty years. I have a rather rambling monologue in the accompanying booklet and am proud to have been included.

Are mobile phones safe for our children to use – or not? Read my major feature in today’s "Sunday Express". As usual, I’m not going to post a link so if you want to read it you’ll have to buy it. Support our papers or they’ll go under...

My most recent novel, “Out of Office”, is set in London during this summer’s Olympics. Although it wasn’t written as prophecy, quite a few of the events in the book have come to pass since it came out in 2010.

We now have a coalition government – not so surprising, maybe, for anyone who remem...

Returned from Skye (as staggeringly beautiful as I remember) to discover I’ve been asked to judge this year’s “Prolitzer Prize” by the fabulous Prole Books. Open to writers of fiction and creative non-fiction, the prizes include cash and publication in the magazine, which is actually more like a book, a sort of mini-Granta.

Tomorrow first light we fly to Inverness, from where we drive across the Highlands to Skye. Very excited about taking the kids back to a place I spent several happy holidays as a child (except when the midges were around). Last time I went to Skye, almost 30 years ago, there was no bridge; be interesting to see how the place has changed.

It will also be good to do something to take my mind off...

You can read my feature on my short time as a lecturer in the current issue of “The Flaneur”.

Here’s a link...

Reading the collected essays, journalism and essays of George Orwell, I’m struck not only by his beautifully clear, precise writing – eighty years later it’s as if he’s talking directly to me – but by the way he was able to report on a world which to the middle classes was as unknowable as life in the Sahar...

Last night I returned to one of my former haunts, Clerkenwell, for the launch of “Tea at the Grand Tazi” by the lovely Alexandra Singer. Great to catch up with some old friends from Legend Press and meet some new people, including fellow Manc Alexandra and her family. The event was filmed by a Chinese TV station and Alex has also b...