Favourite book. Of all time and recently?
Recently? Yuval Noah Harari’s Nexus.
All time? This question is too tall, but on my bookshelf, On Writing Well by William Zinsser and Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate have aged well.
Favourite film. Of all time and recently?
Films don’t stick in my head. Only watch them on planes, if that. The most recent was Chien 51. I enjoyed it.
Favourite series. Of all time and recently?
The Wire.
What is the most random thing you’ve ordered online?
A large cat litter box with a swing door, a roof and a skylight.
What is the last thing on your phone that you took a screenshot of?
A WhatsApp-based used car catalogue, which is also the number of a police detective, listed as the connection for a very serious crime I am looking at.
What app do you spend the most time on?
WhatsApp.
What’s your favourite piece of trivia?
I don’t like trivia.
What’s the weirdest superstition you secretly believe in?
I’m not superstitious.
If you could relive one specific experience, what would it be?
Surfing a wave. It doesn’t even have to be a good one.
Window seat or aisle seat?
Aisle.
If you could live as someone else for the day, who would it be and why?
My cat. His life seems nice.
Career highlight?
Toppling corrupt management at a corporation without even getting to publish the story.
What are people always surprised to learn about you?
My age.
You’ve just been arrested. What crime were you likely to have committed?
Smearing our dogs’ poo all over the front door of the people we sold our house to.
Or, more likely, journalism.
If you weren’t working in your current role, what industry would you be in?
When I was young, I aimed to be paid to protect a large wilderness, have a gun, and chase down bad guys. But if my police officer contact is anything to go by, I would be selling used cars.
What is the most-worn item in your wardrobe?
Shoes.
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
Take some shortcuts.
Name one person you admire?
I am catching up on work by Edward Said, and within a few days I have come to admire him greatly.
What’s your current guilty pleasure?
Smearing my dogs’ poo all over the front doors of people who wrong me.