I suppose one thing the world really doesn't need is another blog but then the world has so many things it doesn't need and seems to bear up under the weight of them so here goes. The new website is intended to catch hold of fragments - reviews, essays, interviews - that deal with my work and writing life and which are drifting around, somewhat chaotically, in cyberspace. The blog element will be an occasional shop-window for my bad spelling and perhaps have things to say about my writing, writing in general and even - if sufficiently provoked - the wider world. A good place to start might be to mention the name Ahmed Naji, a young Egyptian writer, whose work - surreal, raunchy, satirical - has seen him thrown into prison by an Egyptian government that seems to be carrying on where Hosni Mubarak left off. I read from Naji's work at a recent PEN event in Somerset. Other writers in trouble who were remembered at the event came from Turkey, Iran, Mexico and Bahrain. For more info on Naji and how you might help, have a look at the English PEN site.