I come from a privileged background but I worked a lot of winter seasons in the Alps and I've done lots of mundane summer jobs back in Britain where ….

You are supposed to look at the unimproved and think about the way that we dismiss so-called 'chavs' and certain immigrant classes that are considere….

When I start writing for the day, I usually read aloud the chapter I'm working on. It gets me into it and illuminates mistakes. I'm very rhythm consc….

Holman's world is a worst case scenario but it's healthy to examine extreme possibilities. If the technology that is used for genetic enrichment in G….

We have this sense that there's something bigger than us, above and beyond. If you take away the idea of God, you need to replace it with a shared mo….

What I imagined doesn't require anti-gravity beams or anything too spectacular, just advances in analysing different genes, finding out what they can….

I wanted to write a book that imagined where advances in the study of genetics might lead us. Holman was the first character who came to me: I envisa….

I do always know where I'm going in my books. I know the endpoint. I've written only two thousand words of my next novel but I know what the ending w….

I debated whether or not to pin the setting down to a particular date but in the end I decided to leave things vague. It depends how fast technology ….

Living in France means I see the UK in snapshots. There is something quite nice about being in exile and the things you remember about places tend to….

Social mobility decreased under Labour and under the current government it is reversing. The differences between the poorest and richest are returnin….

I'm slightly pessimistic about human nature, about how close it's possible to bond with those around you. Dying alone is a deep fear for most people.….

I'm a hardened atheist but I feel that we have an inbuilt need for God. If you eradicate religion, you end up with something terrible in its place, l….

There are very good evolutionary reasons for having religion. From early human history we have evolved a need to see God. We have a perception of our….

At the moment we seem to be heading in the opposite direction. However you dress it up, it's pretty obvious who is being affected by the government's….

New technologies are a good thing but we must consider how they will impact on us so that, when they become achievable, they aren't allowed to run am….