For me, most writing consists of siphoning out useless pre-story matter, cutting and cutting and cutting, what seems to be endless rewriting, and what is entailed in all that is patience, and waiting, and false starts, and dead ends, and really, in a way, nerve.

The Queen is frequently on her own, walking the dogs, riding her horses, playing patience, completing a jigsaw, sorting her photograph albums, watching television, phoning friends, doing the Telegraph crossword. Is she neglected? Is she suffering? Or does she simply understand her man?

A lot of things have changed since the days of Flickr. Facebook has concentrated the sociality of the Internet within its blue borders, like a Walmart siphoning off the mom-and-pop shops that formerly comprised the Internet's gathering places. Communication, in the age of mobile dominance, has become, of necessity, shorter and snack-sized.

That's why I do this music business thing, it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up.

They think they can make fuel from horse manure - now I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon but it's sure gonna put a stop to siphoning.

That's why I do this music business thing it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up.