"Why do I do this every Sunday? Even the book reviews seem to be the same as last week's. Different b..." — John Osborne

It is easy to answer the ultimate questions - it saves you bothering with the immediate ones.

The whole point of a sacrifice is that you give up something you never really wanted in the first place. People are doing it around you all the time. They give up their careers, say - or their beliefs - or sex.

Heroes, whatever high ideas we may have of them, are mortal and not divine. We are all as God made us and many of us much worse.

There's no such thing as failure - just waiting for success.